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HISTOET 



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TOWN OF PITTSFIETb, 



WITH A M 




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BERKSmCDimiY, MASS. 



pf O F T H 



E COUNTY 



By Rev. DAVID D. FIELD. 

FORMERLY PASTOR OF THE* CONGREGATIONAL, CHURCH IN 
STOCKBRIDGE. 



^ , ' ^i 

HARTFORD. 

, i 

PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND BURNHAM, 
tearl kreet, comer of TrumbuH. 

1844. 



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!■! 



The substance of the following history was published in a series of num- 
bers in the Pittsfield Sun, from July, 1834, to March, 1835. These have 
been wrought into one continuous narrative, and the history is brought down 
to the present time. 

The Map is the same that accompanied the History of the County of Berk- 
shire, in 1829, in which the writer was concerned as Committee of the Berk- 
shire Association. 



f7^ 



HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD. 



Measures began to be taken, as early as the close of 
1734, which, after various delays and embarrassments, re- 
sulted in the seltlement of this charming- township. In 
December of that year, the General Court of Massachu- 
setts g-ave leave to Col. John Stoddard, of Northampton, to 
lay out for himself, his heirs and assigns forever, " one 
thousand acres of the unappropriated lands of the Province, 
in the county of Hampshire," then including the four;9res- 
ent western counties in the commonwealth, "in some con- 
venient place, in consideration of his great services and suf- 
ferings in and for the public.^' These services and suffer- 
ings are spoken of in the Act of the Legislature as consist- 
ing '* in divers journeys to Canada, Albany and the eastern 
parts, upon the public affairs ; his serving in the war with 
good success, [the war proclaimed by Massachusetts against 
the eastern Indians,] his transactions with the Canada In- 
dians and other western Indians^ and his entertaining of them 
at his house without any expense to the Province.^ ^ Col. 
Stoddard was a son of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of North- 
ampton, and one of the best and ablest men of his time. 

He wisely laid out the thousand acres on the eastern 
branch of the Hcusatonic in this town. He also purchased, 
at great expense, several grants and leases from the natives, 
(the Housatonic or Stockbridge Indians,) of the rest of the 
lands in this place ; with the intention, doubtless, of prepa- 
ring the way for a settlement. 

In June, 1735, the General Court granted to the town of 
Boston " three tracts of land, each of the contents of six 



miles square, to be laid out in some suitable place or places 
in the unappropriated lands of the commonwealth." This 
was done in answer to a petition of that town, "setting forth 
the great charge they were at, for the support of their poor, 
and their free schools, and that they paid near a fifth part of 
the Province tax." They were to be laid out, and plans 
thereof returned to the Court for confirmation, within 
twelve months. The town of Boston was also, " within five 
years from the confirmation of the said plans, to settle on 
each of the said towns, sixty families of his Majesty's good 
subjects, inhabitants of the Province, in as regular and de- 
fensible a manner as the lands would admit of, each of said 
sixty families to build and finish a dwelling house in his home 
lot, of the following dimevsions, viz. : eighteen feet square 
and seven feet stud, at the least: each of the said settlers, 
within said term, was to bring to, and fit for improvement, 
five acres of said home lot, either by plowing, or for mowing, 
by stocking the same well with English grass, and fence the 
same well in, and actually live on the spot : they were fur- 
ther to build and finish a suitable and convenient house for 
the public worship of God, and settle a learned orthodox min- 
ister in each of the said towns, and provide for their honora- 
ble and comfortable support, and also lay out three house lots 
in each of the said towns, each of which to draw a sixty third 
part of said town in all future divisions, one to be for the first 
settled minister, one for the ministry, and one for the school." 

The three townships, laid out in conformity with this 
grant, were Colcrain, (called then, No. 1,) Charlemont, 
(called No. 2.) and Pittsfield, notwithstanding the 1000 
acres in it given to Col. Stoddard, and the purchases of grants, 
and leases which he had made from the Indians. 

The selectmen of Boston, by lawfid authority from the 
inhabitants, March 13, 1737, sold Pittsfield, or rather their 
right to it, to Col. Jacob Wendell, of Boston, for ^61320. 

In the month of vSeptember, in the following year. Col. 
Wendell extinguished a claim which Masinamake, alias 
Solomon, one of the Makehande Indians, made to the lands 
in Pittsfield, and to lands now included in some adjoining 



places, for the sum of ^6120. Whether liis claim was g-ood 
or not, after the purchase of grants and leases by Col. Stod- 
dard, it is gratifying- to know that there was no disposition 
on the part of Col. Wendell to wrong the natives, and that 
the lands here, and in the vicinity, were fairly and honora- 
bly obtained. The natives were treated justly and kindly 
in Berkshire ; and it is due to the memory of the Housaton- 
ic Indians, (whose descendants have gone towards the set- 
ting sun,) to say, that by their general friendship and exer- 
tions, the)'^ contributed much to the safety of our fathers. 

This claim being extinguished, in December, 1738, a 
plat of the township was presented to the General Court. 
Although this was not performed as soon as the act grant- 
ing these townships conditionally to Boston contemplated, 
yet the plat " was accepted and allowed, and the lands 
therein delineated and described were confirmed to the town 
of Boston and their assigns forever, (exclusive of the 1000 
acres grant made to the Hon. John Stoddard, Esq.) and was 
declared to be in full satisfaction of one of the three town- 
ships granted to the town of Boston, provided the said town 
or their assigns should efiectually comply with and fulfil 
the conditions of the grant, and that the plat exceed not 
the quantity of 24,040 acres of land, and interfere not with 
an}'' other or former grant." 

In the above plat, with a view of preparing the way for 
meeting some of the conditions of the grant, sixty settling lots 
containing 100 acres each were laid out in three adjoining 
tiers, running from west to east, in near the centre of the 
township, together with three lots of the same size for public 
uses. The middle tier, containing twenty-seven lots, ran en- 
tirelythrough the township. It fronted north on the principal 
western and eastern road, so far as that pursued a straight 
course. The upper tier, beginning on the west, contained 
nineteen lots — and the lower, beginning on the east, seven- 
teen. The public lots embraced a large portion of the grounds 
now within the village of Pittsfield. The situation of the lot 
designed for the first minister, and subsequently given to the 
Rev. Thomas Allen, is well known. The lot for the support 



of the ministry forever lay opposite, on the west side of the 
north road, and was many years afterwards sold to Col. John 
Brown and Dr. Timothy Childs. The school lot lay in the 
middle tier, a little to the southeast of the Allen lot. 

For the amicable settlement of their mutual claims and 
interests in the township, Col. Wendell entered into the fol- 
lowing agreement with Col. Stoddard, May 29, 1741 : — " In 
consideration of two third parts of the thousand acres," 
(which have been repeatedly mentioned,) "and all the right, 
title, interest and claim which Col. Stoddard had by means 
of his grants and leases from the natives, or by any other 
ways or means whatsoever, of and in two thirds of the rest" 
of the township, Col. Wendell conveyed to him his other 
third part of the township " upon the conditions and limita- 
tions whereon the same was granted to the town of Boston." 

By this agreement, the settling lots w^ere fairly brought 
into market in the summer of 1741. But by this time, there 
was a strong presumption that France w^ould take part wnth 
Spain in the existing war with Great Britain, that the con- 
troversy would involve the North American Colonies, and 
that Pittsfield, (if families located themselves in it,) would 
be exposed to the dangers of a frontier settlement. This 
presumption was realized in the early part of 1744. The 
consequence was, that the settlement of the town was de- 
layed until some time after that war was closed. The Rev. 
Mr. Allen indeed, the first minister of the town, who had 
the best means of knowing its history, affirms, " that the 
first inhabitants came into the town in 1745." By this, 
however, he probably means no more than that some of 
those who afterwards became settlers, this year visited the 
town and purchased lots ; for the writer of this has not been 
able to find any evidence that clearings were made previous 
to the summer of 1749. In that year, Nathaniel Fairfield 
and Timothy Cadwell labored on some lands in the east or 
southeast part of the township, as David Ashley did, and it 
is understood Samuel Taylor did in tlie west part. Others 
may have labored in the town that year, or in subsequent 
years; but no settlement was made until 1752. 



ACTUAL SETTLEMENT. 

Early in this )'ear, Solonion Deming moved his family 
into the east part of the town, and settled where George 
Butler now lives. Mrs. Deming was the first white female 
that came into the town ; and was often left alone throngh 
the night by the necessary absence of her husband, when 
there was not another white inhabitant in the town, and the 
wilderness w^as filled with Indians. This year Charles 
Goodrich settled near where Hosea Merrill Jim. now lives. 
He drove the first team and cart into the town, cutting his 
way for a number of miles through the Avoods. Nathaniel 
Fairfield also this year settled on the road running east from 
the house of the late Deacon Daniel Crofoot, and Zebadiah 
Stiles, on a rise of ground west of the dwelling of the late 
Dr. Childs. It is understood that Abner and Isaac Dewey, 
Jacob Ensign, Hezekiah Jones, Samuel Taylor, Elias Wil- 
lard, and Dea. Josiah Wright, became settlers this year, and 
that Stephen and Simeon Crofoot, David Bush, and Col. 
William Williams, became settlers the year following. In 
the latter year, Solomon Deming, Charles Goodrich, and 
others, were incorporated by the name of " the Proprietors 
of the settling lots in the township of Pontoosuck," the 
Indian name by which Pittsfield was then called — signify- 
ing a run for deer. This was hunting ground for the Hou- 
satonic Indians. Their first public meeting under the 
incorporation w^as held in September, at which measures 
were adopted for carrying forward the plantation. A similar 
meeting was held in August, 1754, during which year, Eli 
Root Esq., Ephraim Stiles, William Wright, and perhaps 
others, became inhabitants. This year hostilities commen- 
ced between France and England, in what is commonly 
called " the second French war," though it was not formally 
proclaimed until two years afterwards. In the summer of 
1755, some Indians invaded this County, w^hich so alarmed 
the people, that the inhabitants of Pittsfield and Lenox fled 
to Stockbridge for protection. On their way a man by the 



8 

name of Stearns, belonging to Canaan, Ct. who had been 
laboring in Pittsfield, and who had behind him on horseback 
a young woman, daughter of Sylvanus Pierccy, of this town, 
was shot dead by the enemy, while the young woman es- 
caped unhin-t. Some of the inhabitants returned to Pittsfield 
the following spring, and dwelt in four fortified houses, 
erected about this time, or so near to them that they could 
resort to them in case of danger. Perhaps in that year, or 
within one oi two succeeding years, all returned. Benja- 
min Keeler is said to have joined them in 1757, and Dan 
Cadwell in 1758. One of the fortified houses stood where 
Levi Goodrich now lives, and was then occupied by Col. 
Williams. Another was the house of Charles Goodrich, 
near Mr. Merrill's, above mentioned. A third stood on the 
land now owned by William Fairfield ; and the fourth, 
" about fifty rods south of the west pond, on an eminence 
that overlooks all that part of the town." 

Soldiers were stationed in the town by order of the gov- 
ernment. But the people were so few or so discouraged, that 
they held no meetings for advancing the settlement, if we 
may judge from the silence of the town records, until Sept. 
1758. At this time there were about twenty log huts in the 
town, (whether occupied or not I cannot say) and from this 
place north, unless there were some clearings about Massa- 
chusetts Fort, in East Hoosic, now Adams, all was a wilder- 
ness to Canada, eastward or south-eastward to Westfield, 
and westward to Kinderhook. In 1759 the war was consid- 
ered as substantially closed in the colonies by the success of 
the British arms in Canada, and the prospects of this town 
began to brighten, though peace was not actually ratified 
between the French and English until 1763. 

The following persons are understood from circumstances 
to have moved into the town this year, namely : Samuel 
Birchard, Daniel Hubbard, Daniel and Jesse Sacket, and 
Jonathan Taylor. I say are understood from circumstances 
to have moved in this year ; for there is no inconsiderable 
difficulty in finding exactly at this time, at what period the 
early settlers planted themselves here. 



9 

In September of this year, (1759) Jacob Wendell and 
others, in their own names, or by their representatives, be- 
sought the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, for a 
committee to make division of all the lands in the township 
to them, with the exception of the settling- and public lots, 
according to their respective rights. The petition was 
granted, and a committee appointed, consisting of John 
Ashley, Esq., Capt. Ebenezer Hitchcock, Nathaniel Dwight 
(the Surveyor,) John Chadwick, and Lieut. Daniel Brown. 
The lands were surveyed the same autumn, and laid out in 
squares, containing generally from 230 to 290 acres. These 
were put into three classes, according to their quality, and 
assigned to the proprietors in 1760. At this time Col. 
Wendell owned about one quarter of the township, the 
heirs of Col. Stoddard nearly as much, Moses Green and 
Charles Goodrich owned about 1000 acres each. A few others 
owned smaller quantities. This year David and Oliver 
Ashey, William Francis, and Gideon Gunn, are understood 
to have become settlers. Joshua Robbins and Ezekiel Root 
became inhabitants before the incorporation of the town, 
which took place early in 1761, and w^as named Pittsfield, 
in honor of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. This distin- 
guished statesman and orator having been introduced into 
the British ministry, had imjiarted new vigor to the British 
arms against the French, in America, and had become very 
popular in the colonies. During the year last mentioned, 
Gideon Goodrich, James Lord, Charles Miller, Thomas 
Morgan, Daniel and David Noble, William Phelps, and 
John Remington, are understood to have become inhab- 
itants. 

In 1762, 3, and 4, the following persons are understood 
to have settled here, namely : Phinehas Belden, Solomon 
Crosby, Israel Dickinson, Elisha Jones, Jno. Morse, David 
Roberts, Aaron Stiles, Israel Stoddard, John and Caleb 
Wadhams, Aaron and Phinehas Baker, Willicam Brattle, 
Col. James Easton, Benjamin and Josiah Goodrich, Moses 
Miller, Joseph Phelps, Amos Root, John Williams, Rev. 

Thomas Allen, Jas. D. Colt, Ezra and King Strong. Dr. 

2 



10 

Colton, Rufus Allen, John Strong-, and a number of others, 
probably became inhabitants during these years. Not long 
after, Joseph Allen, David Bagg, Lieut. Moses Graves, 
Woodbridge Little, Esq., Col. Oliver Root, Ebenezer White, 
and many others, settled in town. 

Most of the inhabitants who have been mentioned, 
settled on the house lots, some on the squares. On the road 
running west from the centre were Zebediah and Ephraim 
Stiles, Ezia Strong, Charles Miller, David Roberts, David 
Ashley, Amos and Oliver Root, and others by the name of 
Wright, Robbins, Belden, Hubbard, Francis and Wadhams ; 
east were Rev. Mr. Allen, John Strong, Dr. Colton, the 
Crofoots, and Jacob Ensign ; and further on to the northeast 
Josiah and Charles Goodrich, Israel Stoddard, Israel Dick- 
inson, and Col. William Williams ; south were Col. Easton, 
Sylvanus Piersey, Ezekiel Root, Daniel Miller, (where Mr. 
William Hollister now lives) James Lord and Elisha Jones. 
Rufus Allen kept a public house on the corner now occupied 
by William B. Cooley, and further north towards Lanesboro', 
were Joseph Allen, and the families by the name of Baker 
and Keeler. On the road eastward of Daniel Weller's, or 
near it, were the Fairfields, David Bush, Eli Root, Esq., 
Hezekiah Jones, William Brattle, and Solomon Doming. 
Col. Williams early moved on to this road from the spot 
where Levi Goodiich now lives, and wdiere Lieut. Graves 
settled af(£r him. Charles Goodrich, Esq. left the farm on 
which he first lived, and settled near him. 

A large portion of the early settlers were from 
Westfield, all by the name of Ashley, Bagg, Bush, Cad- 
well, Dewey, Francis, Hubbard, Noble, Piersey, Sackett, 
Stiles, Taylor and Weller. Hezekiah Jones was also from 
this town. Those of the name of Brattle, Deming, Goodrich, 
Gunn, Lord, Robbins and Willard, were from Wethersficld, 
Ct. The Aliens, Bakers, Fairfields, Phelpscs, Stoddards, 
Strongs and Wrights, were from Northampton ; and the 
Crofoots from Belcher town. Col. Williams and Elisha 
Jones were from Weston ; Lieut. Graves and Israel Dick- 
inson were from Hatfield. Thomas Morgan w^as from 



11 

Springfield, and John Remington from West Springfield. 
Ebenczer White was from Hadley. David Robcits was 
from Hartford, and Jacob Ensign from West Hartford, Ct. 
Col. Easton was immediately from Litchfield, previously 
from Hartford. Joseph Keeler was from Ridgefield, Wood- 
bridge Little, Esq. from Lebanon, and James D. Colt from 
Lyme in the same State. 

Valentine Rathhim, from Stonington, Ct, settled in this 
town about 1770. Dr. Timothy Childs, from Deerfield, in 
1771, and Stephen Fowler and Josiah Moscly, from West- 
field, about 1772. Col. John Brown, from Sandisfield, 
settled here in 1773. In 1775, Gad- Merrill, from Hebron, 
Ct. settled to the north of the east branch of the Housatonic, 
near Dalton line ; and in the spring of 1780, William and 
John Partridge settled a little west of him. 

Besides these inhabitants, a considerable number settled 
early in this town, as others did at later periods. But from 
those named, a large portion of the present inhabitants have 
descended, and many hundreds who hav£ emigrated to other 
parts of the country. There were probably as many as 
sixty families here in 1761, when the town was incorpora- 
ted. Allowing six persons to a family, there must have 
been a population of 360 souls. In 1772, the number of 
families was 138, which contained 828 souls, according to 
the same principle of calculation. The population, accord- 
ing to the census in 1791, was 1992 souls; in 1800, 2261 ; 
in 1810, 2665 ; in 1820, 2768 ; in 1830, 3570 ; and in 1840, 
4060. The population has very mnch increased since, and 
probably amounts now to 4500. 

The emigrations from this town have been very numer- 
ous, though most of the first and earlier settlers lived and 
died here. A few of these returned back to the places from 
whence they came, moved to neighboring towns, or went to 
other States. Of the second and third generations, many 
have helped to people parts of Vermont, New York, Ohio, 
Michigan, and other places in the country. It would be 
interesting, were there facts on hand sufficient for doing it, 
to give the names of those who have emigrated, to state the 



12 

times of their departure, and the towns where they settled. 
This can now be done only in a small number of instances, 
comparatively speaking. Sylvanus Piersey moved back to 
Westfield, and James Lord, to Wethersfield or Glastenbury, 
Ct. Jno. Morse moved first to Washington, and then to 
Pittsford, N. Y. Solomon Crosby moved to Genoa, in that 
State. Joseph Wright and sons early moved to Vermont ; 
some by the name of Dewey, moved first to Washington, 
and then to Vermont. About 1790, Dea. Joseph Clark, 
Phinehas Belden, Charles Miller and sons, and Solomon and 
Wait Martin, moved to Benson ; some, it is understood, by 
the name of Goodrich, to Pittsfield, in the same State. 
Others by the name of Ashley, Bliss and Stiles, moved 
to that State likew^ise. Thomas Morgan moved to the 
town of Salem, and Elder Rathbun, and John Remington, 
2d, to Oneida Co. N. Y. The family of Joshua Narramore, 
and some by the name of Graves, Jones and Fowler, have 
moved to New York. Some by the name of Ashley have 
gone to Ohio, and by the name of Larned, to Michigan. 
Many others have probably gone to these as well as to other 
States and Territories. 

OCCUPATION OF THE INHABITANTS. 

The early settlers, as might be supposed, from their 
planting themselves down in different parts of the township, 
were very generally farmers. They were enterprising young 
men, who had been trained up to this employment in the 
favored towns from which they emigrated, then almost de- 
voted exclusively to agriculture. They purchased lots of 
sufiicient extent to render them highly respectable as farm- 
ers, and to lay a foundation for the education and happiness 
of their families. They could hardly have made a better 
selection of land. 

Though surrovmded by mountains, and though points 
from Richmond and Washington mountains project into it 
short distances, this township is far more level than town- 
ships generally in Berkshire, and more generally capable 
of cultivation. It occupies the widest expansion of the 



13 ir 

Housatonic valley in the county. There is little waste land : 
the alluvial land on the branches of the Housatonic corres- 
ponds in richness with that which is found elsewhere on this 
river, and is very productive. Some of it is enriched by the 
overflowing- of the streams. The soil of the upland is gen- 
erally of a superior quality, consisting of loam with an inter- 
mixture of sand and gravel, and is adapted to all that varie- 
ty of crops cultivated in this section of country. Sand pre- 
vails most in the southern and eastern parts, and gravel in 
the northern and western : in the west, too, there is some 
hard-pan. 

The township is also remarkably well watered. The 
eastern branch of the Housatonic river, rising in mountain 
towns eastward, passing through Dalton, enters this town 
near its northeast corner, where it takes a southwesterly di- 
rection till it contes within about a half of a mile of the vil- 
lage of Pittsfield, where it turns southward. 

The western branch rises in New Ashford and passes 
through Lanesborough and Lanesborough pond, which ex- 
tends into this town, and in which the stream is increased 
by subjacent springs. The outlet, here commonly called 
the Pontoosuc river, runs nearly south, passing the village 
about half a mile to the west, receiving on its way, a 
stream from thu West Pond and Shaker Brook. About 
three fourths of a mile from the village, after the reception 
of the latter tributary, it runs eastward and unites with the 
eastern branch, whence the Housatonic flows onward into 
Lenox, augmented further before it enters that town by a 
considerable brook rising in .Washington. 

The importance of these branches, with some of their 
tributaries, for mills and factories, will be noticed hereafter. 
Suffice it to say here, that these waters, with the connected 
factories, buildings and settlements greatly diversify and 
beautify the scenery. The town strikes the eye with pecu- 
liar pleasure, as it is entered from all the neighboring places. 

Formerly wheat and rye w^ere raised here in great abun- 
dance ; large quantities of which were carried to the mar- 
ket towns on the Hudson river. Merchants were in the 



14 

habit of exchanging beef, pork, butter and cheese for goods 
in New York. Wheat is not now much cultivated ; flour 
being brought in from the West, and as to the other articles 
which are raised, and raised abundantly, a market is found 
for them at home. All the common crops cultivated in the 
county are cultivated in this place. The grounds and buil- 
dings, in most instances, bear marks of thrift and enjoyment, 
though it must be confessed that a few exhibit no small ap^ 
pearance of neglect and decay. The Berkshire Agricultu- 
ral Society, whose annual meetings, cattle show and fair 
have been uniformly held here, drawing together a large 
assembly from this and neighboring towns, has contributed 
much to excite a spirit of inquiry, emulation and enterprise 
among many of the cultivators of the soil. 

In 1790, there was no appearance of a village in the cen- 
tre ; nor were there any considerable clusters of dwellings 
along the streams. With the exception of a few mechan- 
ics, the most needful to a farming population, nearly every 
man throughout the township supported himself and fami- 
ly by the cultivation of the soil. The vast amount of water 
power was hardly thought of for any other purpose than the 
turning of a few mills of the most common description, un- 
til within a period comparatively recent, excepting some 
forges on the Pontoosuc and the outlet of the West Pond. 
Now this power is turned to great account, and may be to 
greater hereafter. Hundreds of mechanics dwell here, and 
it is practically shown that farmers and mechanics may 
greatly contribute to each other's prosperity and happiness. 

WATER-PRIVILEGES USED, ABANDONED, UNOCCUPIED; MILLS, 
PAST AND PRESENT ; FACTORIES. 

The eastern branch of the Housatonic afi'ords important 
water privileges before it enters this town, in Dalton and 
Hinsdale, on which several factories are already erected. 
On this, soon after it enters the town, a saw-mill was built 
about 1777, which has been kept up until the present time, 
and saws a great amount of lumber. On this, as it approach- 



15 

es the village, Root's Factory was built in 1809 or '10. It 
was first used in the manufacture of woolen and then of 
cotton, but has ceased to be. The great difficulty about 
it was, that the water fall could not be made more than four 
feet, without injuring the important meadows back. It 
was believed by some, that machinery might have been 
turned without injury, by the introduction of a water-wheel 
of the right construction. 

Immediately upon the settlement of the town, Dea. Ste- 
phen Crofoot contemplated the erection of a grist-mill and 
a saw-mill on this stream, near where " White's Mills" re- 
cently were. The privilege lay within the limits of the 
school lot. Accordingly, at the first meeting of the propri- 
etors, after their incorporation, in Sept. 1753, a part of the 
business was, " To choose some person or persons to make 
exchange of a part of the school-lot, for some part of Dea- 
Crofoot's lot, so as to accommodate his mills ; and to see 
what the proprietors would give to Dea. Crofoot for setting 
up the mills." It was at this time, a great object with the 
proprietors to secure the erection of the mills, especially 
of the grist mill ; for there was no place where they could 
get their grain floured nearer than " Great Barrington 
Bridge," twenty miles distant, and for a great part of the 
way, through a wilderness. A small grist-mill, indeed, 
existed on Sepoos, or Barnum's brook, in Stockbridge ; but 
it was insufficient to do the grinding for that town. What 
agreement was entered into at first, the writer is not now 
able to state, nor how soon precisely the mills were built. 
Their erection may have been delayed by the prospect and 
occurrence of the " Second French War." Eventually, 
however, the town granted to Dea. Crofoot the use of the 
mill privilege for a given number of years, and he placed 
himself under bonds to keep the grist-mill in a state of re- 
pair for the accommodation of the inhabitants. The mills 
were built, and in connection with them a fulling mill, be- 
longing to Jacob Ensign. In 1778, the term of the lease 
to Crofoot having expired, the town sold the "mill privi- 
lege" to Ebenezer White, in whose hands, and in those of 



16 

his son, Enoch White, the privilege remained until 1842, 
when it was purchased by Thomas F. Phuikett, the present 
owner of Pittsfield Cotton Mills, (so called) about forty rods 
below, that he might have the entire control of the water. 
The mills are removed, though the owner has permitted a 
saw-mill to be built on the site of the gristmill, on certain 
conditions, one of which is, that the mill shall be run only 
when and so far as it may be run without injury to his own 
establishment, he himself being judge. The Cotton Mills 
were erected in 1832. The factory is a large brick build- 
ing, eighty feet by forty, with a wheel-house attached. 
The average number of hands is seventy, who are employ- 
ed in making light sheetings, the only style of goods here 
manufactured. Three hundred and forty-six bales, or 164,- 
500 pounds of cotton are annually used. They are ma- 
king sheetings this year, at the rate of 630,000 yards, hav- 
ing more and some improved machinery. 

The west branch of the Housatonic, or Pontoosuc river, 
as it is more commonly named, after it passes from the North 
or Lanesborough Pond, to its junction with the east branch, 
a distance of three or four miles, is a very important mill 
stream. The North Pond itself, Shoonkemoonkeek in the 
Indian language, (Shoonkemoonke, as the English pro- 
nounce it,) covering an area of 1400 acres, and in some 
places of great depth, is a vast reservoir of water, and being 
supplied by subjacent springs, as well as by the streams 
which flow into it from New Ashford and Lanesborough, af- 
fords an outlet, capable of turning a much greater quantity 
of machinery than is now placed upon it, extensively as it 
is already improved. It is not affected by drought, as 
streams generally are. The armory, the oldest establish- 
ment now existing upon it, has never been stopped a day 
for the want of water, nor by such a rise in the stream, as 
to cause the waters to flow back. The fall from the surface 
of the pond to the Woolen Factory, southwest of the vil- 
lage, two and a half miles perhaps, is not less than one hun- 
dred and tv/enty or thirty feet. From the first one and a 
quarter or one and a half miles, to Goodrich's factory, this 



17 

is so great, that the entire stream may be used many limes 
over, while farther on, where the fall is less, the stream is 
iacreased by the outlet of West Pond, a pond said to cover 
a greater area than the North Pond, though it does not send 
forth as much water, having no considerable brooks running 
into it. The proportion is about as two to three. 

In Sept. 1762, Joseph Keeler, of Ridgefield, Ct. purchased 
two tracts of land, containing together about two hundred 
acres on the south-west and south-east shore of the North 
pond, extending down the outlet some forty rods ; on which, 
in the course of that or the succeeding year, he erected a 
grist-mill and a saw-mill ; the former of which was kept up 
until within a very few years. The site of the latter, some 
years since, was occupied by a scythe shop. Both are now 
gone. 

Where the Pontoosuc factory is, a saw-mill was early 
erected ; and where Pomeroy's gun factory is, a forge was 
built probabl)^ not long after 1770, which was improved as 
a forge by different individuals or companies, and sometimes 
to a very considerable extent, until 1805 or 6. Ore for this 
was procured mostly from Cone's bed in Richmond, some 
was obtained from a bed in the west part of Lanesboro', 
while some was picked up on the farms of the inhabitants 
in the neighborhood. 

Where Goodrich's mill dam now is, there was a fulling- 
mill, belonging to Dea. Matthew Barber, and also a saw- 
mill as early as 1776. 

Below the junction of West pond brook with the Pontoo- 
suc, a little north of the west road from the village, Rufus 
Allen built a forge about 1775 ; but as the dam flowed the 
marshes back, and produced fever and ague among the 
inhabitants, he was obliged to abandon it. A little southi 
but still north of the road, sometime afterward, a nail fac- 
tory, chair factory, &c. were built, w^iich are not now in 
operation. 

To the south of the west road, in 1766 or 7, where Luce's 
mill a few years since stood, Ezra Strong and others erected 
a grist-mill j opposite to which, on the same dam, a saw- 
3 



18 

mill was built soon after, succeeded by an oil-mill. Tbe 
Luce mills are gone, and two satinet mills erected on their 
site, one in 1S32 or 3, and the other in 1843. These mills 
belong to L. Pomeroy and Sons. 

The Pontoosuc Company purchased the lands and priv- 
ileges about the outlet of the North pond, in 1824, to the 
distance of not far from one hundred rods south from the 
upper dam, one hundred and fifty perhaps in all from the 
pond, and built their factory the two following years. The 
principal building, of brick, is 148 feet by 48, four stories 
with a story in the roof; the largest factory building, it is 
understood, in the county. The dye house and wool house, 
also of brick, on a line with this ; the fulling-mill and ma- 
chine shop are of corresponding size. The water is con- 
veyed in a canal, seventy rods from the upper dam, to the 
rear of the factory, where it is thrown upon a wheel eight- 
een feet in diameter, with buckets of eighteen feet length, 
five feet below the low water mark of the pond. This turns 
all the machinery of the building, with which it is well 
furnished. Here eighty hands, on an aveiage, are em- 
ployed, and 140,000 pounds of wool annually made into 
broadcloths. 

On the site of the " old forge," Jason Mills, from Spring- 
field, established in 1806 a small gun shop for the manufac- 
ture of fowling pieces, &c. for people in the vicinity. In 
1808, Lemuel Pomeroy purchased the place of the repre- 
sentatives of Mills, and on the same foundation commenced 
the manufacture of arms for particular States ; where, since 
1816, he has manufactured them on contract for the U. S. 
About 2000 stands were annually made prior to 1816, when 
the amoimt became about 2200, though 2000 was the 
number sold to the government. Thus it continued until 
1839, since which it is 1500 — a more expensive musket being 
made. Connected with this there is a trip hammer shop a 
little below, and a finishing shop in the village. The princi- 
pal building of brick, 50 feet by 40, was erected in 1823, and 
the present trip hammer shop in 1828. By the site of the 
shop there has been a saw-mill near forty years. Thirty gun- 
smiths are employed in the business of this establishment. 



19 

Between the trip hammer shop and Bissell's factory, Mr. 
Pomeroy owns a vahmble water privilege, which is unoc- 
cupied, having twenty-two feet and ten inches fall. 

Bissell's factory, built in 1832, eighty feet by forty, brick, 
four stories, and of the same construction with the Pontoo- 
suc factory, has never gone into operation. The fall of 
water is six feet. 

Goodrich's factory, erected in 1816, is a wooden building, 
forty feet by thirty. Lead pipe, buttons, machinery, &c. 
were formerly manufactured here. It is now a plane and 
planing factory. Ten hands on an average are employed. 

All the water privileges below belong to Lemuel Pome- 
roy and Sons. Their woollen factory to the south-west of 
the village, was built in 1814, eighty feet by forty, three 
stories, and their finishing shop opposite, in 1823, fifty feet 
by thirty, also three stories : both of brick. Around the 
fectory are the needed out-buildings. In this factory and 
their satinet mills, seventy hands are employed and 
150,000 pounds of wool annually wrought into broadcloths 
and satinets. 

On the outlet of the West pond there were formerly three 
forges. The first was built by Rufus Allen, after abandon- 
ing the site on the Pontoosuc. On the same dam was a 
saw-mill. These stood not far from the chair factory, 
recently burnt down, a little west of Goodrich's factory. 
The second forge, on the dam of which was also a saw-mill, 
was where Goodrich's saw-mill now stands. The third 
was placed on an intermediate site, occupied by Marble's 
scythe factory. This factory is now gone. The chair fac- 
tory before it was burnt, was converted into a batting factory, 
employing about five hands ; and on the same site a factory 
is now building, for the manufacture of the same article. 

In addition to the two branches of the Housatonic, Shaker 
brook is a valuable mill stream. It originates in Richmond 
pond, (partly in Richmond and partly in this town,) about 
one mile long and half a mile wide, and in several brooks 
in Richmond and Hancock, in the neighborhood of the Sha- 
ker settlement in the latter town. The general course of 



20 

this stream is first north-east and then east, to its union with 
the west branch of the Housatonic, beloAv the woollen fac- 
tory of L. Ponieroy & Sons. In Feb. 1770, Valentine 
Rathbun, from Stonington, Ct. purchased a small tract of 
land of Aaron Baker, on square No. 68, about half a mile 
from the pond in a direct line, though much more as the 
outlet runs, together with the right of flowing as much more 
land as should be necessary to raise a fund of water sufficient 
for a fulling mill then built, and a saw mill to he built. From 
circumstances, it is probable the fulling mill had been in 
existence two or three years, and it has been kept up until 
the present time ; though it is said a saw-mill was never 
built on the premises. Daniel Stearns, of Killingly, Ct. 
had possession of the place from 1804 until 1831. Having 
made some addition to the works, he commenced here about 
1814, the manufacture of woollen cloth upon a small scale ; 
and then manufactured satinet. This establishment some- 
time afterwards, was known by the name of Stearns' Old 
Factory, to distinguish it from a brick factory which he built 
in 1826, three-fourths of a mile down the stream. The fac- 
tory is now Barker's factory, having been purchased by 
Barker & Brothers in 1831, and since used by them in the 
manufacture of satinet. Their average number of hands is 
sixteen, and the avooI wrought into this fabric annually, is 
30,000 pounds. Having recently fitted up a small mill con- 
nected with the Shaker grist-mill, (which will be noticed 
presently,) they will now increase their operations. 

Stearns' Factory, (the new factory) is seventy feet by 
forty, four stories. The average number of hands is fifty 
in the mill and about it, and the amount of wool manufac- 
tured the last year, into broadcloth and satinet, was 104,000 
poimds : probably 100,000 pounds will be the average. The 
factory property now belongs to D. & H. Stearns. The 
little settlement about this is called Stearnsville, in which 
a post- office was established some ten years since. 

The Shaker grist-mill, just referred to, sixty rods back, 
waS' built in 1825, where a saw-mill called Baker's mill 
was erected as early as 1773. It has three run of stones, and 
is a valuable mill. 



21 

A mile and a quarter from Stearnsville, eastward, where 
the stream is increased by two brooks, one from the west 
and one from the south-west, there is a water privilege, and 
a dam built, wliere it is said the first saw-mill in this town 
stood. 

There are some other streams, as Lord's brook, &c. suffi- 
cient for saw-mills, or sufficient a portion of the year. 

Besides the factories and mills on streams, there are in the 
village various shops for the pursuit of different branches of 
mechanical business ; as well as merchant stores and offices, 
such as are usually found in large villages, to which refer- 
ence will be had in a subsequent page. According to the 
Stale valuation, made in 1831, there were in the whole 
town 419 dwelling houses. The year preceding the num- 
ber of families was 563, probabl}'^ more at that time. The 
number of houses and families now is greater ; much 
greater in the village. There were then fourteen shops 
within, or adjoining dwelling houses, and seventy-one other 
shops, and four tan-houses. 

The factories, mills and shops, give employment to some 
hundred hands, and support and comfort to many families, 
while they greatly increase the business and wealth of the 
town. 

This place is probably destined to sustain a very large 
population. It has already many more inhabitants than 
any other equal portion of the County. Existing establish- 
ments lay a broad foundation for increase, and as just shown 
several water piivileges are entirely unoccupied. The 
lands now devoted to tillage, mowing and pasturage, skillful 
as some of the farmers confessedly are, might be rendered 
still more productive. Besides, according to the valuation 
above mentioned, there were in 1831, 3667 acres of unim- 
proved land. 

PITTSFIELD VILLAGE. 

The village of Pittsfield is beautifully situated in the 
centre of the town. Though it has no limits assigned by 



22 

law, it extends, in popular estimation, along the principal 
northern and southern road through the County, the dis- 
tance of about thiee-fourths of a mile from the Pittsfield 
Young Ladies Institute, to the house of the late Major Henry 
C. Brown, and on the great western and eastern road, (as 
the road was regarded before the making of the Railroad,) 
to the East Branch, the bridge on the road turning towards 
Washington, and Hatter's Pond, (so called,) on the road to 
Dal ton, with the streets and lanes north and south, as 
far each way as the points first named. In the centre, 
where these roads cross each other at right angles, there 
is a public square ; part of which was given by the Rev. 
Thomas Allen, and part by the Hon. John Chandler 
Williams. Though rather small for the present, and 
especially for the probable future size of the village, this 
is still a fine opening. Here is the stately elm, 126 feet 
in height, ninety to the limbs, which never fails to at- 
tract the attention of travellers ; around which, at a suit- 
able distance, (in the form of an ellipse,) trees have been 
planted, enclosed with railing, which at no distant day will 
add greatly to the delights of the village. Many of the 
buildings are on this square, and on the roads already men- 
tioned, denominated from their direction. North and South, 
East and West streets. North and South streets are nearly 
level the whole distance : the East street descends towards 
the east branch of the Housatonic, while the West passes a 
hollow, along which the railroad is built, in its way to the 
West branch. These'streets are seven rods wide, and lined 
extensively with trees. It is to be regretted that some 
streets, recently laid out, on which there are now some 
buildings, and which may be thickly settled hereafter, are 
not of greater width. In large villages, wide streets, giving 
ample space for side walks, shade trees, the circulation of 
air, and the passing and turning of carriages and teams, are 
of immense importance, whether we regard beauty, health, 
or convenience. 

Within the village limits, where, forty years since, there 
were only a single church, fourteen or fifteen dwelling 



23 

houses, and perhaps two or three shops, there are now four 
churches, Cong-regational, Baptist, Methodist, and Episco- 
pal, the buildings pertaining to the Medical Institution, the 
Young Ladies Institute, a Bank (incorporated in 1S28, with 
permission to hold stock to the amount of $100,000, extended 
in 1836 to 150,000,) a Town House, the buildings pertain- 
ing to the Railroad Depot, the passenger house, car house, 
freight house, &c., about 200 dwelling houses, inhabited by 
about 230 families, (sixty more houses and eighty more 
families than there were here ten years ago :) ten dry goods 
stores, three merchant tailors' shops, four groceries, two 
druggist stores, two shoe stores, one hardware store, one 
large carriage factory, three cabinet shops, five milliners' 
shops, four taverns, seven or eight law offices, four printing 
presses,two bookstores, &c. &c. The Congregational Church 
is of wood, the Baptist and Methodist Churches are of brick, 
and the Episcopal Church of stone. Some of the other 
public buildings, some dwelling-houses and stores, are of 
brick ; but most of the buildings are of wood, and two 
stories : a few of three, more of one. 

While this village is the natural centre of business for the 
town, and in some measure for several towns in the vicinity, 
other things have contributed to its growth. The literary 
institutions within its limits have contributed much. The 
great western railroad has already increased its population 
and business, and there is good reason to believe will in- 
crease them hereafter. Lessening the expenses of travelling 
and transportation for the inhabitants, it furnishes facilities 
to all who wish to visit here for pleasure, health and litera- 
ture. Possessing the relation this village does to important 
towns northward, it is the most convenient place of deposit 
for their produce, fabrics and merchandize. 

From the belfry of the Congregational Church, there is a 
charming view of the village and town, and of the surround- 
ing scenery. 

Pittsfield was considered as easy of access before the Rail- 
road was made. Much was done to improve the roads and 
to accommodate travellers from different quarters. The 



24 

town however was not easy of access from the east, and 
hardly any town was in Berkshire county. The passage of 
the Green Mountain Range was a dreaded part of their 
journey to all who had to travel over it. It was the 
grand obstacle in all the contemplated routes for the rail- 
road. But the obstacle has been surmounted, and this place 
is brought within a few hours travel of all the places through 
which the road passes, or other railroads with which this 
is connected. 

It may be well to advert a moment to the more important 
roads which pass this town, and to the accommodations for 
public travel. 

The north and south road from Lanesboro', was opened 
as far south as Stockbridge, and probably Sheffield, as early 
as 1764. The eastern and western road was opened as early 
as this through the town, but how much further it was then 
extended, it may be difficult noAV to ascertain. About forty 
years since, a stage line from Boston to Northampton was 
carried westward through this town to Albany ; not long 
after which the route was improved by turnpikes. Not far 
from that time a line was established from Bennington, Vt. 
through this place, Lenox, &c., through the northwest part 
of Connecticut, and onward to the city of New York, vdiich 
was afterwards abandoned. The present line from this 
place through Lenox, Lee, &c. to Hartford, Ct. was estab- 
lished in the summer of 1824. It started for a time from 
Lebanon Springs, N. Y. The Hartford stage passes back 
and forth three times a week. The line still running from 
Bennington, through this place to Lenox, Stockbridge, Great 
Barrington, &c. to Hudson, N, Y. was commenced April 1, 
1826. Though much less used than before the establish- 
ment of the rail road, it is daily in the warm season of the 
year from this place, while the steamboats ply the Hudson 
river, and for the rest of the year it passes down one day and 
back the next. From Bennington to this place it is a half 
line the year round. 

During the entire year there is a daily line, (Sunday ex- 
cepted,) from Albany througli to Boston, passing hence 



25 

hence one day through Hinsdale, Peru, &c. and the other 
throug-h Windsor, Plainfield, &c. 

The Pontoosuc Turnpike from this village, through parts 
of Dalton, Hinsdale, Washington, &c. to Chester, near which 
the railroad runs, is of course given up as a turnpike, and 
the road is very little used. It was formerly very much 
travelled. The term Pontoosuc, improperly applied to the 
turnpike, unless as being mainly owned by the inhabitants 
of Pontoosuc or Pittsfield, is more improperly applied to the 
nortli branch of Westfield river. The south-west road from 
the village, passing by branches of the Housatonic into 
Stearnsville, the Hancock and New Lebanon Shaker settle- 
ments, &c.; into Richmond, West Stockbridge, New-Ca- 
naan, &c. to the market towns on the Hudson, is important 
since the railroad was built. 

On these roads, by stages and other conveyances, and 
especially by the railroad, the great thoroughfare, this town 
has continual intercourse with different parts of the country. 



PRIMARY SCHOOLS— HIGHER INSTITUTIONS— THE MEDICAL 
COLLEGE. 

Primary Schools. — In the grant of this township, it was 
provided that a house-lot should be laid out at the com- 
mencement of the settlement, for the support of schools, 
which should draw a sixty-third part of the township in 
subsequent divisions. In conformity to this provision, a 
school lot, containing one hundred acres, was laid out near 
the centre of the town, along the east branch of the Housa- 
tonic ; and another, (a square,) containing 262f acres, esti- 
mated as belonging to the third quality of lands, was after- 
wards laid out, being No. 43, the easternmost lot but one on 
the northern line of the town. The location of the first lot 
was remarkably favorable, though its future value was not 
at first at all anticipated. It remained wholly unproductive 
for a considerable time, and then for years afforded only a 
trifling income. This lot at length was sold in parts, and 
4 



26 

the square was disposed of also. Some of the avails have 
been lost by the depreciation of currency or other means ; 
though the town has now a school fund derived from these 
lands amounting to $2600, money at interest. 

How soon a scliool was opened, it may be impracticable 
at this time to determine. In addition to the difficulties 
common to first settlers, the people were embarrassed by the 
dangers growing out of the second French war. In May, 
1761, however, the subject was agitated of building a school- 
house in each end of the town. There may have been a 
school-house in the centre earlier, or a school may have 
been kept in a dwelling-house. The next year a vote was 
passed to build three school-houses, called the East, Middle, 
and West school-houses ; and the year after it was voted 
that the houses should be built, one twenty-two feet square, 
and the other two seventeen, with four windows of twelve 
panes of glass : thirty-six pounds were voted for building 
them. In 1768, forty pounds were appropriated for school- 
ing, ten foi each of the three schools, and ten to be used at 
the discretion of the selectmen. In 1769 mention is made 
of a North-east and South-west school : other schools were 
probably soon established. In 1773, one hundred pounds 
were granted for schools; the school lot yielding six 
pounds and the Rev. Mr. Allen offered this year to give six 
pounds, for four years, for the same object. 

There are now fifteen district schools in town, the central 
district having been divided in 1830, into three, called the 
Centre, East Centre and West Centre districts. Three 
schools had been taught for some time in the original dis- 
trict. Repeatedly $1600 have been appropriated by the 
town for all the schools, including the interest on the school 
fund. This year the town has appropriated $1750 for the 
common schools in addition to the interest on the school 
fund and the amount receivable from the State. They re- 
ceived from their own fund the last year, about $120, and 
from the school fund of the State, $126 58. Should they 
receive as nnich this year, the amount of money thus pro- 
vided for the schools will be almost $2000. 



27 

These schools are taug-ht by males in the winter and by 
females in the summer, with the exception of that in the 
present Centre district. In that there are two schools, a 
common school, and now a select school, both taught in a 
convenient brick building on Fenn street. Since 1799, for 
considerable portions of the time, the town has patronized 
by grants of money, a grammar school. One has been 
taught from time to time in the school house just mention- 
ed ; and this year the town has appropriated $500 for the 
support of a free school of a higher order. This is done to 
meet the State law, requiring towns of 500 families to sup- 
port such a school. 



THE FEMALE ACADEMY, OR SEMINARY; NOW FOLLOWED BY 
THE YOUNG LADIES' INSTITUTE. 

The Female Academy, usually styled the Female Semi- 
nary, owed its origin immediately to the successful efTorts 
of Miss Nancy Hinsdale, in instituting a select female 
school here. This excited so much interest that a number 
of gentlemen, in 1806, erected a building for the use of the 
school. In February, 1807, they procured an act of incor- 
poration, allowing them to hold property, the annual in- 
come of which, exclusive of the building, should not exceed 
$1200. Miss Hinsdale instructed it after the incorporation 
until about 1813, having at first about forty scholars, and 
towards the close, eighty or ninety. Miss Eliza Doane, of 
Boston, instructed it from 1814 to 1818. Other ladies in- 
structed it for shorter periods. For a number of years, the 
large room, (prepared for the purpose,) in the lower part 
of the building in South Street, previously occupied by the 
second Congregational Society, was used as a school-room 
for the young ladies. 

With a view to the improvement of the institution, the 
proprietors, in 1826, erected a large three-story brick build- 
ing nearly opposite the school-room, for Jjje accommodation 
of a principal and a boardin^stablishment, with convenient 
apartments also for study. The design was to enable the pu- 
pils from abroad to procure board with the family of the prin- 



28 

cipal,andto enjoycontinually thebenefilsof his care and ex- 
ample. After April, 1827, the Seminary was placed under 
the superintendance of a gentleman, assisted by accomplish- 
ed female teachers. The English course of study was in- 
creased : the pupils were instructed also in Latin, Greek and 
French, and in music. They were particularly instructed 
in morals and religion, and the influences of the Spirit, in 
repeated instances, accompanied their labors. The pupils, 
collected from the town and vicinity, from different, and 
some from distant parts of the country, varied in number, 
from ninety to one hundred. The principals were the Rev. 
Eliakim Phelps, Mr. Jonathan L. Hyde, and Mr. Nathaniel 
S. Dodge. Mr. Phelps instructed it from April, 1827, un- 
til the autumn of 1828. He had previously been pastor for 
a number of years of the Congregational chmch in Brook- 
field, and for a time, principal of the Female Seminaiy in 
that town. He was afterwards pastor of the Presbyterian 
church in Geneva, N. Y. Mr. Hyde instructed it from Nov. 
1828, to April, 1834. Before coming to this place he had 
been engaged in the instruction of youth in the State of 
Georgia, and in the city of New York. Mr. Dodge, a na- 
tive of Haverhill, graduate of Dartmouth College, instruct- 
ed it after Mr. Hyde, until sometime in 1841. 

The Institution has received a new name, that of the 
" Young Ladies' Institute," and is instructed in the buildings 
formerly occupied by the Berkshire Gynmasium, briefly de- 
scribed in the following paragraph : 

In the close of 1826, Lemuel Pomeroy, Esq., purchased 

the charming site on the east side of North street, occupied 

by the Government of the United States as a cantonment,* 

during the late war with Great Britain, for the purpose of 

establishing a gymnasium or high school. The year after, 

he erected upon it three large three story brick buildings ; 

one for the principal, and one for the boarding house ; the 

A^ other containe-a large school-room, recitation and lodging 

<»/e-.*<- rooms. There £m^ also lodging rooms for the students in 

/^ the other buildings. These stajtd on a line, facing the south, 

*' overlooking an extensive garden and pleasure grounds of 

* See Appendix, Note A. 



29 ' 

uncommon beauty, ornamented with trees and walks." 
They also command a beautiful view of the village and 
surrounding hills and mountains. The gymnasium was 
opened in the latter part of 1827, (though not incorporated 
until 1829,) by Rev. Chester Dewey, formerly Professor of 
Natural Philosophy, Mathematics and Chemistry, in Wil- 
liams College. It was conducted hitherto by him, as- 
sisted by competent teachers, on the general plan of the 
European Gymnasia. The pupils were taught the va- 
rious English branches of education, and in ancient and 
modern languages. Much attention was paid to moral 
and religious instruction, as well as to science. The Gym- 
nasium ceased its operations in 1836, on the removal of 
the Principal to Rochester, N. Y., whither he was called to 
preside over the "Collegiate Institute" of that city. 

In November, 1841, the Young Ladies' Institute was 
opened by the Rev. W. H. Tyler and lad}?^, in the build- 
ings occupied by the Gymnasium. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler 
were previously principals of the "South Carolina Female 
Institute," at Barhamville, near Columbia, S. C, and earli- 
er still, of the Academy at Manlius, N. Y., to which place 
Mr. T. went directly from the tutorship in Amherst College, 
of which he is an alumnus. 

The centre building of the three erected for the Gymna- 
sium having been burned down, the remaining two, ample 
in their dimensions, and uniform in appearance, were con- 
nected by a corridor two hvmdred feet in length, and were 
otherwise admirably fitted up for the purposes of a day and 
boarding school. 

Associated with Mr. and Mrs. Tyler are eight accomplish- 
ed teachers in all the various departments of a complete 
female education. The teacher of French, Drawing and 
Painting, a native of France, and for some years instructor 
in Dartmouth College, and E. G. Tyler, A. M., the associ- 
ate principal, are permanently connected with the Institu- 
tion. The last named gentleman, as well as his brother, 
is a graduate of Amherst College, and he also received an 
appointment to the tutorship there. 

The desirable location of the lustitute, its liberal arrange. 



30 

ments and advantages, and the high character of its teach- 
ers have given to it an extensive and enviable reputation. 
The present number of its pupils is eighty, of whom more 
than half are from abroad, and with the teachers, are in- 
mates of the family of the Principal. And this complete 
family organization is justly considered one of the most effi- 
cient means of exerting that healthful, moral and social in- 
fluence so essential in Institutions for the young. 

The following is the report of the Examining Committee 
of the Institution for 1843 : — " The subscribers have just com- 
pleted their duties as an examining committee of the 
Young Ladies Institute in Pittsfield, under the direction of 
Mr. and Mrs. Tyler, as Principals. The examination was 
continued from day to day, and in its character was a thor- 
ough, laborious examination, rather than an exhibition. In 
the result we were most unaffectedly gratified ; and we feel 
warranted in saying, that no pains have been spared by the 
Principals or their assistant teachers. In the points of order, 
decorum, appropriate and lady-like behavior, the pupils left 
us nothing to regret. For accuracy, thoroughness of schol- 
arship, and promptness in recitation, few schools in the land, 
if any, could surpass it. The committee took a share in all 
parts of the examination, and were abundantly satisfied 
that the pupils understood the principles and foundations of 
learning. While music, drawing, painting, and what are 
usually denominated the ornamental branches, have all the 
aid and advantages which are necessary, or which could be 
desired, we were happy to see that languages and the math- 
ematics, even the severer parts, were the test of scholar- 
ship. In addition to all, the school has, during the past 
winter, received such tokens of the approbation of Heaven, 
that it would be rmgrateful in us not to acknowledge it. 

" We sum up all we have to add by saying, that daugh- 
ters placed in this school will have all done for them that 
patience, perseverance, conscience and skill can do, to lay 
the foundations of character that is thoroughly and sym- 
metrically educated." J. Todd, 

D. S. Dickinson, 
G. N. Briggs. 



31 



THE DILLINGHAM SCHOOL NOW THE SELECT FAMILY 

BOARDING SCHOOL OF MR. NASH. 

The private school of Mr. Charles Dillingham, in South 
street (commenced in June, 1826,) had a higli reputation. 
The lads, limited in age from six to fourteen years, and in 
numher from thirty-fiv^e to fort}^ were boarded in his family 
and enjoyed at all times his care and company, whose large 
house and adjoining buildings afforded them ample accom- 
modations. They were mostly from Philadelphia, (where 
Mr. Dillingham was several 3'ears a teacher in the Asylum 
for the Deaf and Dumb,) and from New York and Albany. 
They were instructed by him and three or four assistants in 
the common and higher English branches, in modern lan- 
guages and in Latin and Greek. 

Mr. Dillingham died Dec. 15, 1834, aged 35.* His rep- 
utation was high as a teacher, and his death greatly 
lamented. 

Mr. Robert M. Chapman, who had before been an assist- 
ant to Mr. Dillingham, a student at the time in the Episco- 
pal Seminary in New-York, took the school and continued 
it on the same premises until Oct. 1838. Mr. Chapman is 
now an Episcopal clergyman, and minister of the church in 
Vandeusenville, in Great Barrington. 

Rev. J. Adams Nash, a native of Conway, graduate of 
Amherst College, who taught a select school five years in 
the city of New York, and was then settled over a Presby- 
terian church in Binghamton, succeeded Mr. Chapman. 

Mr. Nash is the Principal and Lester M. Clarke, A. M. 
Associate Principal, as the school is now organized. There 
is connected with it also, a teacher of French and a teacher 
of Penmanship. The design is to make the school " strictly 
a Select Family Boarding School; adapted to combine with 
thorough instruction, the social, moral and religious influ- 
ences of a well regulated, Christian family; and to furnish 
a resort, wliere parents, who, for any reason, cannot educate 

* See Appendix, Note B. 



32 

their sons personally, may place them with safety and ad- 
vantage." Such schools are needed by some parents in 
different places, and by many who dwell in cities. For the 
object in view the location could hardly be better. Though 
within the limits of a large village, and enjoying its advan- 
tages, it is remarkably retired. The pupils could hardly 
enjoy more quietness, and be more secure from temptation 
in the most remote and scattered settlement. The buildings 
are well fitted for study, and the grounds in the rear for 
recreation. " The course of instruction embraces Greek, 
Latin, French, Mathematics, Vocal Music and Drawing, 
together with all the branches of a thorough English educa- 
tion. This course is varied, at the option of the parent, 
with a view to prepare the pupil for college, or for the 
active pursuits of life." And lest the number of scholars 
should be too great for. their highest advantage, it is to be 
restricted hereafter to twenty. This has been about the 
average number since the connection of Mr. Nash with the 
institution, and they are to be between the ages of seven 
and sixteen. They are received into the family of the 
principal, and such as are from a distance, and desire it, 
can remain in the family during vacation. The terms are 
two, tw^enty-two weeks each. This is a good school. 



MISS Hinsdale's select school. 

In May 1843, Miss Fanny Hinsdale, neice of the celebrated 
instructress, who was so successful many years since in ex- 
citing attention to female education, opened a select school 
in the room formerly occupied by the Female Seminary, 
designed especially for the instruction of Young Ladies, 
though boys under seven years of age are admitted. She is 
assisted by two female teachers, and the pupils are instruct- 
ed in the English branches, in Algebra, Latin and French. 
There are two terms in the year, and the number of scholars 
the present term is about forty, mostly Young Ladies. 



33 



BERKSHIRE MEDICAL INSTITUTION. 

In the year 1822, a Medical School was established in 
this town, thiougli tiie entcrprize and liberality of a few in- 
dividuals of the County of Berkshire. That it was judicious, 
and that the public wants demanded such an institution, is 
evident from the number of students who have resorted to it 
for a professional education. 

An act of incorporation was obtained in 1823, authorizing 
the Trustees to establish a Medical Colleg-e, and in connex- 
ion with Williams College, giving the power of conferring 
medical degrees, under the same rules and restrictions as 
are recognized by the University of Cambridge. 

Subsequently, a grant of 5000 dollars was made by the 
Legislature, for the purpose of aiding the laudable objects 
of the institution. Also authority was given to establish a 
Lyceum of Natural History, an Eye Infirmary, and a Gen- 
eral Hospital. The success of the enterprise has far exceed- 
ed the anticipations even of many of its friends. The num- 
ber of students has averaged annually about 100, and 
amounts now to about 150. 

By an act of the Legislature, passed in 1837, the Berkshire 
Medical Institution is constituted an Independent Medical 
College, and degrees are conferred by the President, Trus- 
tees and Faculty of the Institution. A Board of Overseers 
is appointed, consisting of the Trustees of the Institution, the 
President and Secretaries of the Mass. Medical Society, the 
Senators of the Commonwealth from the four western dis- 
tricts, ex officio, and other distinguished gentlemen from 
various parts of the Commonwealth. Thus is the Berkshire 
Medical Institution emphatically a State Institution. 

Graduates of the Berkshire Medical Institution are entitled 
to all the privileges and immunities which have been granted 
by the Legislature to the medical graduates of Harvard Uni- 
versity ; and by a vote of the Mass. Medical Society passed 



34 

in May, 1837, the graduates of the Berkshire Medical Inst, 
are entitled to admission as Fellows of that Society, without 
fee or an examination. More than 600 graduates of the 
Berkshire Medical Inst, scattered over the United States 
are now in the successful practice of medicine. 

In this Institution particular attention is given to the study 
of Pathology: and to its credit, it may be said, here was 
established the first distinct professorship of that branch in 
the United States. 

A School of Medicine is continued throughout the year, 
in which medicine, in all its branches is taught. The year 
is divided into a Lecture Term and Reading Term. The 
annual course of Lectures commences on the first Thursday 
of August, and continues fourteen weeks. The remainder 
of the year is occupied by the Reading Term, and consists 
of daily recitations in all the branches of medical science, 
and medical dissertations by the students. 

The Library, the Anatomical Museum, and the Cabinet 
of Minerals, are all very respectable — the buildings belong- 
ing to the Institution consist of a large boarding house, and 
an edifice for lecture-rooms and other purposes connected 
with the interests of the Institution. Recently, an associa- 
tion of the Alumni of the Institution, and the Students at- 
tending the lectures, has been formed, with the design of in- 
creasing the advantages for the acquisition of medical sci- 
ence, and promoting the interests of the Institution. The 
Association gives to each member a diploma, and admits all 
former graduates of the Institution as honorary members. 
At the Commencement of the Institution, in connection 
with the exercises of that day, the Alumni have public ad- 
dressess on subjects connected with the science of Medi- 
cine. 

The Faculty of the Berkshire Medical Institution have 
been a working Faculty^ and the reputation of the students 
for close application, diligent study, and correct behavior, 
is not surpassed by any Medical college in the country. 



35 

A Cliniquc is held every Saturday, during the Lecture 
Term, when operations in Surgery are performed, and 
medical advice is given by the Professors, gratuitously. 

The first President was Josiah Goodhue, M. D., of Hadiey, 
a distinguished physician, who deceased in 1S29. The next 
President was Zadoc Howe, M. D., of Billerica, an active 
member of the profession, who resigned his place in 1836. 
In 1837, on the change of the charter so as to make the 
Institution an independent Medical School, Hon. H. H. 
Childs, M. D., one of its most active founders and support- 
ers, was chosen its President, thus adding to the duties of 
his Professorship the responsibilities of its presiding officer. 
Since the founding of the Institution, Dr. Childs has been 
a devoted and successful professor, annually presenting his 
couise of Theory and Practice. With him there is now 
associated only one of the professors at first appointed, the 
professor of Chemistry &c., the other professorships having 
several times changed their incumbents. At the present 
time the Institution is supplied with an active and efficient 
Faculty. 

Henry H. Childs, President of the Corporation. 
Alonzo Clark, Dean or Secretary of the Faculty. 

Faculty. — H. H. Childs, M. D., Professor of Theory and 
Practice and of Obstetrics. 

C. Dewey, M. D. and D. D., Professor of Chemistry, 
Botany, and Natural Philosophy. 

Hon. H. Hubbard, A. M., Professor of Medical Jurispru- 
dence. 

Oilman Kimball, M. D., Professor of Principles and Prac- 
tice of Surgery. 

B. R. Palmer, M. D., Prof, of Anatomy and Physiology. 

Alonzo Clark, M. D., Prof, of Pathology and Materia 
Mcdica. 

Timothy Childs, Demonstrator of Anatomy. 

The influence of all the public schools and literary insti- 
tutions here is very great. They presuppose a high regard 



36 

for literature and the welfare of the rising- generation among 
the inhabitants. In addition to the lilnaries of professors 
and principals, opened for the benefit of the members of 
these schools and institutions, and the libraries of private 
gentlemen, there are some public libraries. There was for- 
merly one in the east part of the town connected with Dal- 
ton, called "Union Library," established in 1796. This 
was dissolved in 1808. There is now one in the west part 
of the town called the "Social Library" founded in 1825, 
and containing 175 volumes. There is also in the village, 
"The Young Men's Library," commenced in 1832, contain- 
ing- about 400 volumes.* 



NEWSPAPERS. 

A printing press was set up here as early as 1787. In 
May following, a weekly paper was issued, styled the "Berk- 
shire Chronicle." Precisely how long this was published I 
am unable to state. Another paper was set up afterwards, 
but discontinued some time before the establishment of the 
" Pittsfield Sun," by the Hon. Phinehas Allen, in Septem- 
ber, 1800. Some time after this the Berkshire Reporter was 
published here for several years. The Berkshire American 
was commenced in 1826, and in Feb, 1827, removed to 
North Adams. The last number of this paper was issued 
about June 1834. The Argus succeeded the American at 
Pittsfield, was edited by Henry K. Strong until March, 1829, 
and then by Samuel W. Bush until Sept. 1, l83l, when it 
was united with the Berkshire Journal, at Lenox. This 
paper was afterwards called the Journal and Argus until 
Sept. 4, 1834, when it assumed the title of the Massachu- 
setts Eagle. 

Four weekly papers are now published in Pittsfield ; the" 
"Pitsfield SunJ' already mentioned, edited by the Hon. 
Phinehas Allen and son; the "Berkshire County Whig," 

* See Appendix, Note C. 



37 



begun March 11, l84l,Heniy Hubbard, Esq. editor; "The 
Berkshire Eagk'," moved herefrom Lenox in 1842, the late 
Massachusetts Eag-Ie, present editor, Charles Montague, and 
the " New England Cataract and Berkshire and Franklin 
Washingtonian," editor, J. D. Bonner, begun in June last. 



RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS CONGREGATIONALISTS — BAPTISTS 

METHODISTS EPISCOPALIANS. 

The earliest settlers of this town were very generally, if 
not universally, Coogregationalists. B}^ the act of the Gen- 
eral Court, granting the township, the inhabitants were re- 
quired to lay out a house-lot for the support'of the ministry, 
" which should draw a sixty-third part of said town in all 
future divisions," and "to build and finish a suitable and 
convenient house for the public worship of God, and settle a 
learned orthodox minister," within a given time. 

In conformity with this act a house-lot was laid out, be- 
ing No. 13, and lying to the north-west of the public square; 
and a part of square No. 7, (113 acres) to the north-west of 
this, considered as being of the first quality of lands, and a 
part of square No. 44, (112 acres) at the north-east corner 
of the tovrn, being of tlie third quality. These lands were 
for some time wholly unproductive. In 1767 an effort was 
made to clear a part of the house-lot. In the early part of 
1774, a petition was sent to the Legislatuie for liberty to 
lease out the ministry lands, which seems to have been 
granted : for in July of that year it was voted " that the 
town do consent to alienate and convey the ministry lot. No. 
13, agreeably to the statute of the Province for that purpose." 
About the same time the lot was sold to Dr. Timothy Childs 
and Col, John Brow^n, for 300Z. The other lots were sub- 
sequently sold. A portion of the avails of these lands has 
been lost, or converted to some other purpose than the sup- 
port of the ministry. From these avails the Congregation- 
alists have now orly $700. They have, however, a legacy 
from Woodbridge Little, Esq. who died in June, 1813, of 
$500, and another from John R. Crocker, who died in Octo- 



38 

ber, 1826, of $476,94. Deacon Daniel Ciofoot, who died 
in August, 1832, willed to the society $500, to go into their 
hands upon the decease of his widow. When this sum 
shall be received, the Congregationalists will have a fund 
of $2176 94. The society have also a Parsonage. 

With respect to the building of a house for the public wor- 
ship of God, and the settlement of a minister, the proprie- 
tors at their first meeting, after they were incorporated, 
Sept. 12, 1753, voted toraise40Z. lawful money for building 
a meeting-house, and assessed 3^. on each settling lot for 
the support of preaching. In May following, it was voted 
" that the meeting-honse should be thiry-five feet by thir- 
ty." In August the town resolved to go on and build the 
meeting-house without delay; they also voted "to hire Mr. 
Smith," who had probably preached to them for a time 
"as a probationer." This year the assessment was doubled 
for the support of preaching; and the prospect was that 
the people would soon have the ordinances of the gospel 
statedly ministered to them. But the occurrence of the 
second French War dissipated this prospect for several 
years. 

The Mr. Smith employed in 1754 was the Rev. Cotton 
Mather Smith, who settled in 1775 in Sharon, Ct., father 
of the Hon. John Cotton Smith, formerly Governor of that 
state, and late President of the American Bible Society. 
He was a native of Suffield, Ct. and graduate of Yale Col- 
lege. He studied theology in Hatfield, and for some time in 
1752 or 3 instructed an Indian school in Stockbridge. As 
a clergyman he ranked high among his brethren. 

In October, 1758, the people voted to hire preaching, and 
in the latter part of 1759 a Mr. Clark was procured to preach 
to them for a season. In August, 1760, Mr. Ebenezer 
Guernsey, who had preached to them four months, was in- 
vited to settle with them conditionally. This call he nega- 
tived, but supplied them further on probation, and was in- 
vited a second time to settle with them. This call he also 
declined in January, 1761. Mr. Guernsey returned to 
Durham, his native town, and finally gave up the ministry. 



- 39 

In August of this year the inhabitants invited Mr. Enoch 
Huntington, of Windham, Ct., to become their minister. 
Mr. H. declined their invitation because he felt it to be his 
duty to settle at Middletown, where he had a call at the 
same time, though he expressed to the people his convic- 
tion that his temporal prospects would be best at Pittsfield. 
He was much distinguished for classical learning. A broth- 
er of his, Dr. Joseph Huntington, was minister in Coventry, 
Ct. ; another brotiier, Hon. Samuel Huntington, was a num- 
ber of years Governor of that state. 

In 1762 an ineffectual effort was made to settle Mr. Amos 
Thompson, and in 1763 to settle the Rev. Daniel Collins, 
the late well-known and venerable pastor of the church in 
Lanesborough. 

In the course of 1763 Mr. Thomas Allen, the first pastor 
of the church came to this town. On the 7th of February, 
1764, the church was organized by Dr. Hopkins, then of 
Great Barrington, Dr. West, of Stockbridge, and Mr. Eben- 
ezer Martin, of Becket, " on the basis of the present confes- 
sion and covenant; which were subscribed" by eight male 
members, viz. : Stephen Crofoot, Ephraim Stiles, Daniel 
Hubbard J Aaron Baker, Jacob Ensign, and William, Lem- 
uel and Elnathan Phelps ; after which Dr. Hopkins preach- 
ed from 2 Cor. viii. 5. These members had probably been 
members before of other churches. On the 5th of March, 
the church in the first place, and then the people at large, 
unanimously invited Mr. Allen to become their pastor. He 
accepted the invitation, and was ordained on the 18th of 
April, the day after the ordination of Mr. Collins. The 
Rev. Mr. Hooker, of Northampton, his theological instruct- 
or, preached on the occasion. During this year, thirty one 
members were added to the church, a large part of them 
probably by letter. 

While these measures were prosecuted for the settlement 
of a minister, the erection of a meeting-house was not for- 
gotten, though the work was not prosecuted apparently with 
equal zeal. In February, 1760, it was voted to raise money 
to build a meeting-house, to be paid one half that year, and 



40 

one half the year following-, forty-five feet by thirty-five ; 
and in December, that on condition the non-resident propri- 
etors would pay 80/, and take four pews, to build it fifty-five 
feet by forty-five. The latter are supposed to have been 
the dimentions of the house- It seems to have been raised 
(and it may have been occupied,) in 1731, though it was 
not regarded as finished until the close of 1770. There are 
many votes on the toAvn records respecting this building. It 
required an expense which the inhabitants were not then 
well able to bear. It stood a little south of the present Con- 
gregational church, which was built in 1792, eighty feet by 
fifty, with a porch. 

The Rev. Thomas Allen, the first minister of Pittsfield, 
was a native of Northampton, where his ancestors had re- 
sided from the first settlement of that town, and had held 
a respectable rank in society and in the church. He was 
born Jan. 7, 1743. A brotber of his, the Rev. Moses Allen, 
was settled in the ministry at Midway, in the state of Geor- 
gia : another. Major Solomon Allen, after having served 
his country faithfully in the Revolutionary War, and taken 
a conspicuous part in quelling the insurrection of Shays, 
entered the ministry late in life, and labored in several 
towns in the western district of New York. Through the 
bequest of a great uncle, Mr. Allen was educated at Har- 
vard College, where he was graduated in 1762, with a high 
reputation as a classical scholar. His ordination as Pastor 
of the Congregational church in this town, in 1764, has 
been mentioned. At this time, the town was nearly a wil- 
derness, there being in it but half a dozen houses not made 
with logs. His religious doctrines were Calvinistic, and he 
believed Congregationalism in the church to be most con- 
sistent with Republican institutions. He labored with zeal 
among his people. " Besides his stated labors on the Sab- 
bath, he frequently delivered lectures, and in the course of 
his ministry preached six or seven hundred funeral sermons. 
In the early part of his ministry he also occasionally preach- 
ed in the neighboring towns, not then supplied with settled 
ministers." Warm in his temperament and inflexible in 
purpose, he engaged earnestly in support of the rights of 



41 

his country against the aggressions of Great Britain, both 
before the commencement of the war and during the long 
continued struggle for independence. On the 30th of June, 
1774, he was placed at the head of a standing committee 
of safety and correspondence for the town, to correspond 
with tlie committees of this and other provinces. His let- 
ters at this time were characteristic, exhibiting great vigilance 
and zeal in the cause of liberty,* and at the same time a 
high trust in the God of battles. In 1776 he acted for a 
short period as Chaplain to the American Army under 
Washington, at White Plains, and in June and July, 1777, 
he othciated in tlie same capacity at Ticonderoga. The 
month following he went with the volunteer company of 
militia, many of them his own parishioners, from Pittsfield 
to meet Burgoyne's troops at Bennington, and took an ac- 
tive part in the exertions and triumphs of the memorable 
battle that ensued. Reporting himself to Gen. Stark, he 
was forthwith appointed a Chaplain, and there are those 
who yet express their belief in the efficacy of a prayer be- 
fore the army on the morning of the action, which ascended 
from the fervent lips of Mr. Allen. " Among the reinforce- 
ments from Berkshire County," says Edward Everett, in 
his life of Stark, " came a clergyman, with a portion of his 
flock, resolved to make bare the arm of flesh against the 
enemies of the country. Before daylight on the morning 
of the 16th, he addressed the commander as follows : ' We, 
the people of Berkshire, have been frequently called upon 
to fight, but have never been led against the enemy. We 
have now resolved, if you will not let us fight, never to turn 
out again.' General Stark asked him < if he wished to 
march then when it was dark and rainy V ' No,' was the 
answer. ' Then' continued Stark, ' if the Lord should once 
more give us sunshine, and I do not give you fighting 
enough, I will never ask you to come again." The weath- 
er cleared up in the course of the day, and the men of Berk- 
shire followed their spiritual guide into action."! 

*See Appendix. Note D. 

tEverett's Life of Gen. Stark— Spark's Library of Am. Eiog. p. 07. 

6 



42 

Before the attack was commenced, being posted opposite 
to that wing- of the enemy which was pi incipally composed 
of refugees, who had joined the invaders, Mr. Allen advan- 
ced in front of our militia, and in a voice distintly heard by 
them, exhorted the enemy to lay down their arms, assuring- 
them of good quarters, and warning them of the consequen- 
ces of refusal. Having performed what he considered a re- 
ligious duty, and being fired upon, he resumed his place in 
the ranks, and when the signal was given, was among the 
foremost in attacking the enemy. 

There is a tradition that Mr. Allen was recognized by 
some of these refugees ; for there were a very few men of 
this description from Pittsfield and other parts of Berkshire, 
and that they said, " there is Parson Allen, let us pop 
him !" There is also a tradition, that when he was fired 
upon, and the bullets of the enemy were whistling about 
him, he jumped down from the rock or stump on which he 
had stood, and cried out, " Now, boys, let us give it to them ;" 
and immediately said to his brother Joseph by his side : 
"You load, and I will fire !" After the battle was over, he 
found a Hessian surgeon's horse, loaded with panniers of bot- 
tles of wine. The wine he administered to the wounded 
and weary ; but two large square bottles he carried home 
with him as troi)hies of his campaign of three or four days. 
Being asked whether he killed a man, he replied, " he did 
not know ; but that observing a flash often repeated in a 
bush near b}?^, which seemed to be succeeded each time by 
a fall of some one of our men, he levelled his musket, and 
firing in that direction, he put out that flash !" 

During Shays' rebellion, Mr. Allen supported the author- 
ity of the government of Massachusetts, and was threatened 
by the insurgents. But in his intrepidity he was not to be 
shaken from his purpose or duty, and he held himself in 
readiness, sleeping with arms in his bedroom, to defend 
himself against the violence of lawless men. 

In 1779, he journeyed on horseback to Savannah in Geor- 
gia, to rescue a Avidowed sister and her child from peril, and 
made a voyage to London in 1799, to bring home an orphan 



43 

grandchild. While in London, seeing the King pass from 
St. James to the Parliament House, in a coach drawn by six 
cream colored horses, he recorded the following retiection, 
among others, in his journal : — " This is he, who desolated 
my country ; who ravaged the American coasts ; annihila- 
ted our trade ; burned our towns ; plundered our cities ; sent 
forth his Indian allies to scalp our wives and children ; 
starved our youth in his prison shijis ; and caused the ex- 
penditure of a hundred millions of money, and a hundred 
thousand of precious lives. Instead of being the father of 
his people, he has been their destroyer. May God forgive 
him so great guilt !'' 

The union early formed between Mr. Allen and his peo- 
ple was cemented by mutual kindnesses and continued with- 
out any material interruption about 40 years. Some of the 
early settlers were from his native town and a large portion 
of them were about his age. But in 1808, "in consequence 
of a very unhappy difficulty, originating in the political ar- 
dor of that period, and over which all parties now wish to 
cast the veil of oblivion, a considerable number of the church 
and parish withdrew from his ministry, and were incorpo- 
rated soon aftei, as a separate parish." They erected the 
house in South street as their place of worship, the interior 
of which has been altered, and which is now occupied, one 
part as a school-room, and the other as a lecture room. "On 
the 22d of August, 1809, a new church was organized upon 
the doctrinal basis of that from which they had withdrawn, 
and on the 26th of October" following, Mr. Thomas Pun- 
derson, a native of New Haven, and graduate of Yale Col- 
lege, was ordained their Pastor. 

Notwithstanding this separation, Mr. Allen continued in 
the ministry with the original church until his death, which 
took place, after a sliort but severe illness, on the Lord's 
day, Feb. 11, I8l0,at the age of 67, in the hope of a bless- 
ed immortality. His worthy consort, Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, 
daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Lee, first minister of Salis- 
bury, Ct., survived him imtil March 31, 1830, when she died 
at the ase of 82. 



44 

They luid 12 children, nine sons and three daugliters, all 
of whom, with the exception of two sons, lived to adult years, 
thougli they are all now in their graves, excepting- the Hon. 
Jonathan Allen, of this town, and the Rev. William Allen, 
D. D., who was ordained the successor of his father on the 
10th of October after his father's death. 

One of their sons was a captain in service, duiing the war 
of 1812 ; another officiated as surgeon in the same Avar, both 
on- the New York frontier; another acted as assistant Quar- 
termaster General, and one of his daughters, a beautiful 
and fascinating- woman, who married Gen. Ripley, was at 
the bedside of her husband, when he was suffering from the 
ultimately fatal wound he received at the sortie of Fort Erie. 
Three of their sons received collegiate education, one of 
whom, Solomon Metcalf Allen, Professor in Middlebury 
College, will be noticed hereafter. Their grandchildren 
now living, number twenty, and their great-grandchildren 
ten. 

In addition to several sermons which have been publish- 
ed, Mr. Allen left extant at his death twenty-seven hunch^ed 
sermons of his own production, written in short hand, which 
no one has been able to decipher. 

The two churches placed under the care of Mr. Punder- 
son and Mr. William Allen, remained separate and distinct 
about eight years. " But as the spirit in which the separa- 
tion commenced gradually subsided on both sides, the 
inconveniences and burdens of so unnatural a state of things 
were more and more felt, and in the latter part of 1816, 
many began to think and talk seriously of a re-union. It 
was soon found that a majority of both societies were deci- 
dedly in favor of the measure, and as the pastors coincided 
in the general opinion, that an union would promote the 
best interests of the town, though it must separate them 
from their beloved charges, it was not difficult to agree upon 
the conditions on which it should take place. Accordingly, 
to prepare the way for the churches and congregations again 
to become one, Mr. Allen was dismissed Feb. 5, 1817, and 



45 

Mr. Punderson on the 5th of May following. The parishes 
were re-united by an act of the General Court, in the early 
part of the same year, and the Churches by a mutual Coun- 
cil, on the 7th of July. Both the pastors were highly es- 
teemed, and much beloved by their people, who would 
gladly have retained them, had it been practicable under 
the new organization." Dr. Allen hassince been President 
of Bowdoin College, in the State of Maine, and Mr. Pundei- 
son is Pastor of the Church in Huntington, Ct. 

After the union of the churches, Rev. Heman Humphrey, 
(now Dr. Humphrey) a native of Burlington, Ct. and 
graduate of Yale College, who had been pastor about ten 
yenrs of the Congregational church in Fairfield, in that 
State, was invited to take the oversight of them in the 
Lord. He was installed Nov. 27th, 1817, and remained 
with them until Sept. 23, 1823, when he w^as dismissed, 
that he might enter upon the duties of the Presidency of 
Amherst College, where he was inaugurated on the 15th of 
Octo'oer, in the same year; and where he was installed 
Pastor of the College Church, Feb. 28, 1827. 

Dr. Humphrey was succeeded by Rev. Rufus William 
Bailey, a native of North Yarmouth, Me., graduate and tutor 
of Dartmouth College, April 15, 1824. Previously to coming 
to this place, Mr. Bailey was pastor for a time of a church 
in Norwich, Vt., and a professor in the Military Academy 
then existing in that town. He was dismissed on account 
of ill health, the 27th of Sept. 1827. After his dismission, he 
removed to South Carolina, and became principal of an 
academy at Rice Creek, near Columbia. He now preaches 
in that State. 

Rev. Henry Philip Tappan became pastor of this clunch, 
Sept. 17, 1828, and was dismissed also on account of ill 
health, Nov, 1, 1831. He has since been professor, for a 
time, of intellectual and moral philosophy and belles-lettres 
in the University of the city of New York ; and is now the 
principal of a large boarding and day school for young 
ladies, in the same city. Mr. Tappan is a native of Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y. and a graduate of Union College. 



46 

" Rev. John William Yeomans, a native of Hinsdale, grad- 
uate and tutor of Williams College, who had been pastor of 
the church in North Adams, from Nov. 12, 1828, to Feb. 16, 
1833, was installed here March 7, 1832, and dismissed Sept. 
9, 1834. On the 7th of Oct. he was installed pastor of the 
Presbyterian church in the city of Trenton, and is now 
president of Lafayette College, at Easton, Penn. 

Rev. Horatio N. Brinsmade, D.D. a native of New-Hart- 
ford, graduate of Yale in 1822, who had been a teacher in the 
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, and then pastor 
of the church in Collinsville, in the same State, was settled 
as pastor of this church, Feb. 11, 1835, and was dismissed 
in the autumn of 1841, having received a call from the 3d 
Presbyterian church in Newark, N. J. of wiiich he is now 
pastor. 

The Rev. John Todd, a classmate of Mr. Brinsmade, was 
installed his successor Feb. 16, 1842. He had been pastor 
some years of Union Church in Groton, Mass., of the Ed- 
wards Church in Northampton, and of a church in the city 
of Philadelphia. 

The people of this town have been favored with several 
seasons of special divine influence. In 1820, particularly, 
and more extensively in 1821, (when Dr. Humphrey was 
assisted by Rev. Asahel Nettleton) a revival spread amongst 
the inhabitants. This was a precious revival, and greatly 
promoted the religious character of the town, the influence 
of which is still felt. There was another revival during the 
ministry of Mr. Bailey, in 1827, the more remarkable, as he 
was then confined by sickness. Mr. Phelps, however, at 
that time principal of the Female Seminary, labored faith- 
fully among the people. Seasons of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord, have occurred under the ministry of 
the succeeding pastors, and some of them of great interest. 

The following table will show the number of persons 
admitted to the church by each, (from the world and by 
letter;) the number of baptisms administered, and marriages 
solemnized by most of them. 



47 





Admissions. 


Baptisms. 


Maii'i.ig-es. 


T. Allen, 


341 


710 


406 


W. Allen, 


57 


70 


35 


T. Piindeison, 


56 


97 


28 


H. Humi)luey, 


214 


180 


49 


R. W. Bailey, 


99 


82 


24 


H. P. Tappan, 


88 


55 


19 


J. W. Yeomans, 


141 


. — 


— 


H. N. Brinsmadc, 


247 


40 


112 


J. Todd, 


122 


8 


86 



If to the foreg-oing admissions we add the eight admitted 
to the church at its formation, we have a total of professors 
among the Congregationalists from the beginning of 1373. 
There may have been some admissions to the church in the 
vacancies between the settlement of the pastors, and if so, 
the total must be greater. The church is now very large. 

~ Baptists. — As early as 1768, Mr. Valentine Rathbun, a 
Baptist in sentiment, came to this town from Stonington, 
Ct. Mention ha^s been made of him in a previous page as 
having erected a clothier's works on the outlet of Rich- 
mond pond. He set up meetings in his own house, and 
soon gained over some of his neighbors, by the name 
of Deming, Kingsley, Narramore, Phelps, &c. to his own 
views respecting the mode and subjects of baptism. In 
1772 a small Baptist church was formed among them, which 
may have received some addition afterwards. But in the 
early part of 1780, when the attention of numbers in Han- 
cock and New Lebanon was turned to the principles and 
worship of the Shakers, Elder Rathbun, and some of his 
followers, united themselves with that class of people. Hav- 
ing remained with them about three months he renounced 
their sentiments, and published a pamphlet against them, 
entitled "Rathbun's Hints." He now resumed his former 
meetings ; but his union with the Shakers, transient as it 
was, greatly injured the Baptist Society. Some who joined 
the Shakers never returned. He however continued his 



48 

meeting's until about 1790, when he removed toPompey N. 
Y., where he died. For a part of the time he held his 
meetings in an unfinished buikhng designed for a meeting- 
house, which stood very near the site of the present west 
Methodist raeeting--housc. After his removal, the church 
gradually diminished, and finally became extinct. 

Notwithstanding the apparent fickleness of Elder Rath- 
bun in changing his sentiments so hastily, he is said to 
have been a man of good sense and piety, and to have pos- 
sessed a respectable share of information. He was as zeal- 
ous in politics as in religion. In Dec. 1775, he was 
placed on the committee of inspection and correspondence 
for the town, and in two instances in the time of the Rev- 
olutionary war, was elected a representative to the General 
Court. 

In March 1801, a new Baptist church was organized in 
the west part of the town with sixteen members, which re- 
mained destitute of a stated pastor until 1806, when Elder 
John Francis an inhabitant of the town, was ordained its 
pastor. He had the spiritual oversight of the church until 
his death, Sept. 21, 1813, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, 
and was regarded as a pious and worthy man. For the 
greater part of the time Elder Francis preached in the 
school-house in the North Woods ; for tw^o or three years in 
the school house near the Methodist meeting-house. 

Thus deprived of their pastor, the church remained va- 
cant until 1822, when Elder Augustus Beach, a native of 
New Ashford, became pastor of the church here and of the 
church in Lanesborough. In June 1827, when all the 
Baptists in town repaired to the new house of worship in the 
village, he gave up the latter charge. From that time un- 
til May 1834, (when he was dismissed,) he w^as pastor of 
the Pittsfield church only. 

This congregation has been favored with several seasons 
of special attention to religion, and at one time the church 
had more than 200 members. 

Since Mr. Beach's dismission, they have had as regular 



49 

pastors, Rev, Edwin Sands and Rev. Arnold King-sbury, the 
piesent pastor, who began his labors here May 1st, 1843. 
The present number of communicants is 112. 

Their new meeting-house is of brick, fifty-seven feet by 
thirty-eight, and cost about $3000, towards which "the 
church acknowledge the liberal aid of their brethren of 
other denominations." This is now usually well filled on 
the Sabbath. 

Methodists, — The Episcopal Methodists arose in the west 
part of the town about 1788, under the preaching and la- 
bors of Rev. Messrs. Lemuel Smith and Thomas Everett, 
and erected their meeting-house, forty-two and a half feet 
by thiity-four and a half, about 1798. They have become 
numerous. In 1829, they built a brick meeting-house in the 
east part of the village, sixty feet by forty, where they 
have a full congregation. Besides these two meeting- 
houses, they ha\e preaching places at Stearnsville, Pontoo- 
suc, and in the east part of the town. The professors at all 
these places, amounting to about 270, are considered as con- 
stituting one church. About one half of them now live in 
and near the village, where a branch was formed June 19, 
1829, with only six members. For about fifteen years the 
town of Pittsfield alone has constituted a station, and of 
course has been entitled to tlie entire services of an itiner- 
ant preacher. The people have enjoyed the labors of the 
Rev. Cyrus Prindle, Jarvis G. Nichols, Timothy Benedict, 
Henry Smith, Luman A. Sanford, John Pegg, Peter M. 
Hitchcock and Daniel D. Whedon. There are also several 
local preachers in town, who perform a part of the public 
services. Elder Rol^ert Green, from Maryland, who had 
been a circuit preacher, and assisted in the formation of most 
of the Methodist churches in the County,'was located in tliis 
place in 1800, and preaclied frecjuently until near or cjuite 
the time of his death in 1838, at the age of 73. 

A secession from the Methodists in the west part of the 
town took place about 1813, The seceders, styled Reforni- 

7 



50 

ed Methodists, built themselves a small house for worship, 
and were supplied with circuit preaching for some years, 
but are now extinct as a society. 

Episcopalians. — The Episcopal Society in this town 
was organized according to law in the summer of 1830, 
under the name of St. Stephen's Church. About fifty 
families connected themselves with it in that and the fol- 
lowing year, and their number has since increased. The 
services of the church were held during that time and the 
succeeding year in the old Town House, and in the Lecture 
Room. Several clergymen officiated for the society during 
this period, and among them the Rev. George T. Chapman, 
D. D., late of Lexington, Ky., afterwards of Portland, Maine, 
now of Worcester, Mass., who was principally instrumental 
in gathering the society. In Oct. 1831, the Parish determin- 
ed upon building their present place of worship, and then 
invited the Rev. Edward Ballard, at that time preaching at 
North Charlestovvn and Drewsville, N. Hampshire, to be 
their permanent Rector. The church, which is a vety hand- 
some edifice after the Gothic order, is built of blue lime 
stone," (obtained from Luce's cpiary.) "with a tower, and 
occupies the site of the old Town House. Its dimensions 
are sixty-seven feet by forty-three; height of tower eighty 
feet. It was finished in Dec. 1832, and then consecrated to 
the service of Almighty God, to be a place of worship for- 
ever, according to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. At the same time Mr. Bal- 
lard, A. M. was instituted Rector of the Parish. He is a 
native of Hopkinton, N. Hampshire, and received his The- 
ological education at the General Seminary of the Church 
in New York. The Rector is supported from the income of 
a fund, (contributed for the purpose, which now amounts 
to nearly $5000,) and by a tax on pews, which have been 
sold outright, and are the property of purchasers and their 
descendants forever, on the condition of paying said tax. 



51 

The church owns a commodious parsonage, conveniently 
situated on North Street. 

Connected with this church is a scholarship in the Gener- 
al Theological Seminary at New York, founded by mem- 
bers of the Parish at an expense of $2100. It is a perma- 
nent fund, and the income is devoted to the support of a 
student of divinity. After the death of the foimders, the 
right of presentation to its benefits vests in the Rector of 
the Parish. Several persons have received its benefits, and 
it is intended to apply them to persons born and educated in 
this County, in preference to others, if there are such per- 
sons needing them. Three years is the usual and required 
term of incumbency. 

The Church is furnished with a very fine organ, built by 
Goodrich at Boston, which cost about $600, and is a gift 
to the Parish from Madam Chandler Williams. 

The society has thus far been prospered, and great har- 
mony has prevailed among the members thereof since its 
formation. There are now belonging to the church about 
seventy communicants. 



DISTINGUISHED INDIVIDUALS. 

A number of gentlemen in this town have been greatly 
employed and honored in public life. Among these the 
Hon. W721. Williams deserves to be particularly mentioned. 
His father, of the same name, was pastor of the church in 
Weston; and his grandfather, also of the same name, was 
pastor of the church in Hatfcld. In 1729 he was graduated 
at Harvard College — soon after which he settled as a mer- 
chant in Boston, where he became a member of the West 
church in that town. About 1744 he removed to Deerfield, 
and thence to this place in 1753. Upon his first coming here 
he lived in a house, used as a fort in the second French war, 
standing where Mr. Levi Goodrich now dwells, and then near 
the " Four corners," where Joseph Shearer, Esq. recently 
resided. In 1740, during the war between Great Britain and 



52 

Spain, he went in the great but as it proved unfortunate ex- 
p'jdilion ag-ainst the Spanish West Indies. In what capaci- 
ty he entered the service is unknown, but while the forces 
from Great Britain and the Colonies were at Port Royal in 
Jamaica, he was honored with an ensign's commission in 
the regiment of foot commanded by Col. Wm. Gooch. In 
1744, when France became united with Spain in this con- 
troversy, he was appointed Major of the forces in the ser- 
vice of government posted on the line of forts between 
Connecticut river and the river Hoosic — and in the course 
of that year was authorized to erect a fortification in Cole- 
raine. The next year he was made a Lieut. Colonel of the 
8th regiment raised in Massachusetts for the expedition 
against Cape Breton. In 1758, (in the second French war,) 
he marched at the head of a regiment to Canada. In 1763 
he was constituted colonel of the regiment of militia in the 
County of Berkshire ; and in 1771, when probably the regi- 
ment was divided. Colonel of the northern regiment in the 
County ; the southern it is understood being placed at that 
time under the command of his cousin, Col. Elijah Will- 
iams, then of West Stockbridge. When an attempt was 
made by forces from New York to drive off settlers from 
Egvemont, under pretence that the town lay within the 
limits of that colony, he was active in repelling the inva- 
sion. How he discharged the various duties devolved upon 
him by these appointments, it may be difficult now precise- 
ly to ascertain. The appointments themselves are an hon- 
orable testimony to his abilities. According to tradition he 
possessed to a high degree the attributes of a good officer. 
The civil duties to Vv^hich he was called were also numerous 
and important. In 1748, while living at Deerfield, he Avas 
made a justice of the peace for the County of Hampshire, 
an office which he probably retained after his removal to 
Pittsfield, until the formation of this County, as Pittsfield 
belonged to the former County until that period. At that 
time he was appointed a Judge of the County Court for 
Berkshire, and upon the death of Gen. Joseph Dwight, in 



53 

176.3, hc! Ijecame the presiding- Judge of this Court, and also 
Judge of Probate. The first office he held until 1781 : the 
second he gave up three years previous. For a long time 
he was the principal magistrate in the northern part of the 
County. His death occurred April 5th 1784, at tlie age of 
seventy-five. In recommending him to the church in Pitts- 
field, the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew declares, " that his life 
and conversation were as becomes a professor of the gos- 
pel," The Rev. Mr. Allen says, "he was a gentleman of 
liberal education and cultivated understanding, of great 
generosity, a friend of religious order and of the happiness 
of the town." 

Charles Goodrich, Esq. came to this town in 1752, a year 
before Col. Williams, as has been stated, and lived for a 
time likewise in a house used as a fortification in the second 
French war, constructed of squared logs, and standing a lit- 
tle south-east of the dwelling-house of Mr. Hosea Merrill, 
Jr. ; though he spent most of his days in the dwelling near 
the " Four Corners," recently occupied by his son, the Rev. 
Charles Goodrich. He was the proprietor of several lots of 
land in the township ; and in 1761 he obtained a grant of the 
southern part of Hancock, probably with a view to the ac- 
commodation of some of his relatives. He was a member 
of the Provincial Congress which met at Concord April 12, 
1774, and he repeatedly represented the town at the Gener- 
al Court. From 1774 till 1778, he was a Judge of the 
County Court. He died Nov. 16, 1816, aged ninety-six. 

Col. Oliver Root was distinguished as a military man. 
In early life he served two campaigns in the second French 
war. He was a native of Westfield, and it is worthy of a 
passing notice, that in going onward to the north, he and 
others with him came to this town as is supposed, on the 
route now occupied by the Rail Road, having an Indian 
guide and also aid from marked trees. They encamped one 
night near the eastern line of the town in Dalton. He 
crossed Lake George under Gen. Abercrombie in his great 



54 

and imposing liotilla of boats, in his approach to Ticonde- 
voga, and was in the disastrous battle which followed, under 
the walls of that fortress, where nearly 2000 men in the 
army of that unfortunate commander were either killed or 
wounded. Col. Root's services on the lines were principal- 
ly in the corps of rangers under Maj. Rodgers, an arduous 
situation for a youth of sixteen and seventeen years of age 
and full of temptations, but he had resolution, and through 
the blessing of God, strength to bear hardship, and principle 
to resist temptation. Integrity marked his conduct on his 
return. 

In the early part of the Revolutionary war he bore a part 
in the capacity of a captain in the operations in the vicinity 
of New York, and was among the troops who marched into 
the city Avhen it was evacuated by the British. He was at 
Bennington near the time of the battle, but for reasons which 
circumstances would doubtless satisfactorily explain, not in 
season to take a part in the action, and he afterwards had 
the satisfaction of witnessing the surrender of Gen. Bur- 
goyne at Saratoga. He was a Major under Col. Brown 
when that brave officer fell at Stone Arabia; succeeding to 
the command, he successfully conducted the retreat, and by 
his wisdom, saved the block-house and his men. Having 
only one brass piece and three cartridges of powder, he or- 
dered his men to break up their pots and kettles for balls, 
and by the firing of this single piece, so intimidated an 
overwhelming force while deliberating about an attack up- 
on the block-house, that they withdrew. That force the 
next day was overcome by Gen Van Rensellaer. 

Col. Root was an acting magistrate ; and while he main- 
tained religious order in his family, was a constant at- 
tendant upon the worship of God. His death occurred 
May 2, 1826, at the age of eighty-five. 

Woodbridge Little, Esq., a native of Lebanon, Ct., came 
here about 1766. He was the first gentleman who settled 
in the town as a lawyer. The inhabitants in several in- 
stances appointed him a representative to the General Court. 



55 

He was a trustee and benefactor of Williams College, the 
Corporation of which have preserved the leading facts in 
his history in a marble tablet inserted in the wall of the 
College Chapel, on the left of tlie desk, over against the 
tablet of Col. Ephraim Williams on the right. " To the 
memory of the venerable Woodbridge Little, Esq. who was 
graduated at Yale College in 1760, was early licensed to 
preach the gospel ; afterwards became a distinguished law- 
yer and public benefactor; and died at Pittsfield, June 21, 
1813, aged seventy two. Not satisfied with giving his prop- 
erty to Christ when he could no longer hold it himself, he 
presented to this College in his life time $2500, and at his 
death raised the sum to near $5100, for the education of 
pious and promising youth for the gospel ministry ; a char- 
ity which will extend an incalculable influence through 
ages that will never end." 

Hon. Timothy Childs, M. D. entered Harvard College in 
1764. Having studied physic with Dr. Thomas Williams, 
physician in Deerfield, his native town, he commenced 
practice here in 1771. In 1774 he took a commission in a 
company of minute men under the command of Capt. Da- 
vid Noble, and upon the news of the battle of Lexington 
went with this company to Boston, where he was soon after 
appointed a surgeon of the army. In 1777 he left the army 
and resumed his practice in this town, in which he continu- 
ed until within less than a week of his death, Feb. 20, l82l, 
at the age of seventy-three. He was repeatedly a member 
of the General Court in both branches — a member of the 
Medical Society of the State, and president of the District 
Society. 

Col. John Brownwas probably born in Brimfield or Gran- 
ville, as his parents removed to those towns from Woodstock, 
Ct. before they settled in Sandisfield, where he spent his 
early youth. After graduating at Yale College in 1771, he 
studied law with Oliver Arnold in Providence, and com- 
menced the practice at Caughnawaga, now Johnstown, N. 



56 

York, and was appointed King's Attorney. Here he be- 
came acquainted with Sir John Jolmson, through whose 
wickedness he and numbers under him were afterwards 
massacred. About 1773 he moved to Pittsfield, where there 
was no lawyer excepting Mr. Little. Excited by the ag- 
gressions of Great Britain, now beginning to be deeply felt 
in the Colonies, he resolved to hazard every thing for the 
welfare of his country. Bold and prudent, and having a 
fine personal appearance, he was selected by the State 
Committee of correspondence in 1774, for the hazardous 
enterprize of going to Canada to induce the people of that 
province to unite with the inhabitants of the States against 
the mother country. His pretence was the purchase of 
horses ; but the Canadians remarked, that he was a singu- 
lar jockey, for the horses never suited him. Once indeed 
the house in which he lodged, was assailed ; but he made 
his escape. He was delegate to the Provincial Congress, 
Feb. 15, 1775. Immediately after the battle of Lexington, 
Capts. Edward Mott and Noah Phelps of Hartford, Ct. with 
others, formed the purpose of taking Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point by surprise. They marched privately April 29, with 
sixteen unarmed men. Arriving at Pittsfield, they commu- 
nicated the project to Mr. Brown and Col. James Easton ; 
a post having been sent to Col. Ethan Allen, in Vt. These 
gentlemen immediately engaged to co-operate, and to raise 
men for the purpose. Of the Berkshire men and the Green 
Mountain boys 230 were collected under the command of 
Allen, and proceeded to Castleton. Here they were unex- 
pectedly joined by Col. Arnold, who had been commission- 
ed by the Massachusetts Committee to raise 400 men and 
effect the same oliject, which was now about to be accom- 
plished. As he had not raised the men, he was admitted 
only to act as an assistant to Col. Allen. They reached the 
lake opposite Ticonderoga on Tuesday evening May 9, 1775, 
and the next day Ticonderoga was taken, and a day or two 
after, Crown Point; soon a sloop of war, which made 
Allen and his brave party complete masters of lake Cham- 
plain. Mr. Brown was intrusted with the business of 



57 

conveying away the prisoners, and was also sent as express 
to the General Congress at Philadelphia, where he arrived 
May 17th. In July he and Allen were despatched through 
the woods into Canada to assure the Canadians, that their 
religion and liberties should not be impaired by the ap- 
proaching araiy. On the 24th of Sept. he took Fort Cham- 
blee. The next day Allen, who expected the co-operation 
of Brown, marched upon Montreal, l)nt was attacked by a 
superior force and taken prisoner. As this was an expedi- 
tion unauthorized by any higher authority, Allen Avas treat- 
ed with great severity. 

While Arnold was before Quebec, Brown, then a Major, 
arrived from Sorrel and joined him : Montgomery had ar- 
rived two days before. In the attack on Quebec, Dec. 31, 
Major Brown with a part of a regiment of Boston troops 
was directed to co-operate by making a false attack npon 
the walls to the south of St. John's gate, and to set fire to 
the gate with combustibles prepared for the purpose. He 
executed his part in the enterprize : Col. Livingston, owing 
to the depth of the snow, failed in his. In this assault 
Montgomery fell. The Congress, Aug. 1, 1776, voted him 
a commission of Lieut. Colonel, with rank and pay in the 
continental army from Nov. 1775. In Dec. 1776 he con- 
ducted a regiment of militia to Fort Independence. After 
the defeat of Col. Baum at Bennington, in 1777, he was 
despatched by Gen. Lincoln from Paulet to the north end of 
Lake George with 500 men to relieve our prisoners. By 
marching all night he attacked the enemy at break of day 
Sept. 17th, at the landing three miles from Ticonderoga; set 
at liberty 100 of our men ; made prisoners of 293 ; took the 
landing, Mount Defiance, Mount Hope, the English lines, 
and the block-house ; 200 batteaux, an armed sloop, sever- 
al gun-boats, a few cannon, and a vast quantity of plunder. 
His letter to Gen. Gates Sept. 18, describes his success, 
which tended to raise the spirit of the troops and to excite 
the militia to join their brethren. After this exploit he 
joined the main army. In the next month Burgoyne was 
captured. 

8 



58 

Soon after this event Col. Brown retired from the service 
pn account of his detestation of Arnold. In the campaign 
in Canada in 1776, he had become acquainted with his char- 
acter ; and it is remarkable, that at this period, three years 
before the treason of Arnold, he published a handbill of 
thirteen or fourteen articles against him, in the height of 
his fame, charging him with levying contiibutions on the 
Canadians for his own private use and benefit. He said that 
Arnold would prove a traitor, for he had sold many a life 
for money. The people of La Prairie had submitted on the 
promise of good quarters ; but their village was plundered 
and burnt and lives were destroyed. After this Col. Brown 
was occasionally employed in the Massachusetts service. 
He was chosen a member of the General Court in 1778. 

In the fall of 1780 he marched up the Mohawk, it is un- 
derstood, for the relief of fort Schuyler, (at Utica) endan- 
gered by the invasion of Sir John Johnson and Brandt, with 
their horde of regulars, tories and Indians, who were carry- 
ing war and desolation among the settlements eastward on 
that river. Brandt had already desolated the settements 
south of the Mohawk, and Sir John was engaged in the 
work of ruin on the north of it. Col. Brown advanced as 
far as the small palisade fort at Stone Arabia in Palatine, 
where he had under him 130 men. Apprised about this 
time of the proceedings of the enemy. Gen. Van Renssel- 
aer collected the militia of Claverack and Schenectady, and 
proceeded as far as Caughnawaga. From this place he 
wrote to Col. Brown to turn out and check the advance of 
the enemy, and he would support him from the rear ; in at- 
tempting to execute this order he was led by a traitor into 
an ambuscade of Johnson's men, before whom he fell, fight- 
ing manfully at the head of his little band, on his birth day, 
Oct. 19 , 1780, aged thirty-six years. Forty-five of his men, 
many of whom marched from Berkshire the week before, 
were also killed. The rest unable to oppose a much larger 
force retreated. The next day Gen. Van Rensselaer, who, 
owing to some delay, had failed of supporting Brown, ob- 



59 

tained a victory over this force at Fox's mills, a few miles 
distant. 

When Johnson found that his former friend was slain, it 
is said his savage heart for a moment relented, and that he 
gave way to the emotion of grief. 

The death of Col. Brown, in such a manner, is one of 
the mysterious events of Providence. Few if any in the 
county had such prospects of distinction and honor in life. 

Col. Brown left a widow, (late wife of Capt. Jared In- 
gersoll) and four children, two daughters and two sons. 
The daughters married Wm. Butler, printer, Northampton) 
and Dr. Hooker of Rutland, Vt. The youngest son, Maj. 
Henry C. Brown, v/as for a long time the Sheriff of the 
County. 

Col. Simon Lamed, a native of Thompson, Ct., came to 
this town in 1784, and engaged in the business of merchan- 
dize. He was for many years Sheriff of the County, and 
in one instance, represented this district in the Congress of 
the United States. Before settling here he was an officer of 
merit in the Revolutionary war — and upon the commence- 
ment of the late war with Great Britain, he was appointed 
Colonel of the 9th regiment of United States infantry, and 
remained in the service until the war was closed. He died 
Nov. 16, 1817, aged sixty-one. 

The Rev. Sylvester Lamed, son of the preceding, minis- 
ter of the first Presbyterian church in the city of New Or- 
leans, was greatly distinguished for talents and moving elo- 
quence. He entered Williams College at an early age, but 
soon left that institution and united himself with the college 
in Middlebury, where he was graduated with a high repu- 
tation as a scholar in 1S13. In the last year of his college 
life he became the hopeful subject of grace. Having stud- 
ied theology for a time at Andover and then at Princeton, 
he was licensed to preach the gospel in 1817. Wherever 
he went preaching, a high popularity followed him — and 
efforts were made to secure him as pastor by churches in . 



60 

Boston, Baltimore and Alexandria. In Jan. iSlS he visited 
New Orleans, where he united in accomplishing the plan, 
which Mr. Cornelius had started a few weeks before, of 
forming" a Presbjterian congregation in that place. The 
work was soon done, and he became the pastor. In the fol- 
lowing summer he visited New England, and procured ma- 
terials for the erection of a church, the corner stone of 
which was laid Jan. 8, 1819. But he was not suffered long 
to live to exert a blessed influence in the great emporium of 
the west. He fell a victim of the yellow fever Aug. 31, 1820, 
aged 24. Few men in our country ever attained so soon to 
equal celebrit}', and promised so much usefulness to the 
church. His widow, Sarah Wyer, of Newburyport, died at 
the city of Washington, Jan. 20, 1825, aged twenty-five. 

Gen. Charles Lamed, an elder brother of Sylvester, died 
at Detroit on the 13th of Sept. 1834, in the forty-third year of 
his age. He also entered Williams College at an early pe- 
riod, where he industriously pursued his classical studies. 
On leaving college he studied law with the Hon. Jno. 
Hunt, then of Stockbridge, about two years. He then went 
to Lexington, Ky., with a view of pursuing his studies, but 
was soon made, first a Lieutenant and then Adjutant, in a 
regiment of volunteers, under the command of Col. Owen. 
The regiment joined the army on the frontiers in Aug. 1813, 
and participated in most of the events of the northwestern 
campaign. Lieut. Larned was present with it at the battle 
of the Moravian Towns on the Thames, and at different pe- 
riods was despatched with small bodies of men to protect 
the terrified inhabitants, and to quiet the fears of the de- 
fenceless women and children in the interior, every where 
exhibiting the utmost coolness and intrepidity. He remain- 
ed attached to the army till some time in the year 1814, 
when he resigned his commission to devote himself to the 
practice of law in Detroit. In Dec. on the re-organization 
of the government, he was appointed by Gov. Cass, Attor- 
ney General of the Territory of Michigan, an office which 



61 

he held np to the year 182-, when be resigned. Subse- 
quently he was appointed toother offices civil and military; 
he became a Brig.' General of militia. He stood very high 
at the Michigan bar, as an able and eloquent advocate. 
He was a liberal supporter of religious institutions, a friend 
and successful promoter of the temperance reformation, a 
patron of enterprizing youth, striving to rise in the world by 
personal and commendable exertions — faithful and happy 
in the duties of domestic and relative life. 

Solomon Metcalf Allen, son of the first minister of this 
town, a particular friend and classmate of Sylvester Lar- 
ned, was destined by his father to be a farmer, being athletic 
and fond of active life ; but after he became pious, his friends 
wishing that he should receive a collegiate education, he 
commenced the study of Latin at the age of twenty. At 
college he was distinguished among his fellows in the ac- 
quisition of knowledge. During a year spent at Andover, 
besides attending to the customary studies, he read a part 
of the New Testament in the Syriac language. After offi- 
ciating for two years as tutor, he was chosen in 1S16, profes- 
sor of the ancient languages, having risen to this honor in sev- 
en years after commencing the study of Latin. But he w^as 
hardly permitted to enter upon the duties of this professor- 
ship. Induced, on account of a defect in the chimney, to 
go imprudently upon the roof of the college building, he 
fell from it Sept. 23d, 1817, aged twenty-eight years. In 
his last hours his numerous friends crowded around him, 
" watching with trembling anxiety the flight of his immor- 
tal soul to the kindred spirits of a better world." " Under 
the extreme anguish of his dying moments, resigning the 
loveliness, which he had hoped would be shortly his own, and 
all the fair prospects of this world, he exclaimed — ' The 
Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice ! Father, thy will be 
done ! So seemeth it good in thy sight, Lord.' " Professor 
Allen was a sound and thorough scholar. 

Allen S. Larned, Alexander M. Fisher, Levi Parsons, 



62 

Pliny Fisk and Joseph R. Antlrus, students at Andover, are 
alluded to by Carlos Wilcox in the following- lines : 

" Ye were a group of stars collected here. 

Some mildly glowing, some sparkling bright ; 

Here rising in a region calm and clear, 

Ye shone a while with intermingled light; 

Then parting, each pursuing his own flight 

O'er the wide hemisphere, ye singly shone; 

But, ere ye climed to half your promised height, 

Ye sunk again with brightening glory round you thrown, 

Each left a brilliant track, as each expired alone." 

The Hon. Chandler Williams was a native of Roxbury 
and graduate of Harvard College, 1777. He was admitted 
to the bar, it is understood in this County, about 17S3 or 4. 
From 1794 until 1799 he represented the town at the Gen- 
eral Court. He represented it again in 1800, and was a 
member of the Governor's Council in 1817, and 1818. 

Mr. Thomas Gold was the son of Rev. Hezekiah Gold of 
Cornwall, Ct. While a member of Yale College, for six or 
seven months in 1777, he was secretary to Gen. Putnam at 
the Highlands in New York. After graduating in 1778 he 
studied law, and in 1792 came to this place. Besides filling 
town offices, he was president of the Agricultural Bank and 
of the Berkshire Agricultural Society. 

The Hon. John W. Hulbert, a native of Alford, was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1794. He practiced law here for sev- 
eral years, and was a member of Congress from 1815, to 
1817. The latter part of his life he practiced law in Au- 
burn, New York. 

Col. Samuel M. McKay " was much esteemed for his so- 
cial qualities, his liberality to the poor and unfortunate, and 
his efforts to promote and extend the prosperity of the town. 
He enjoyed the confidence of the people, and they bestow- 
ed upon him the highest offices in their gift, at various 
times : at the time of his decease he was one of the repre- 



63 

sentatives in the State Legislature." He died of a consump- 
tion Oct. 6th. 1834, aged thirly-eight. 

"Col. Joshua Dunforthy''' to use the language of the 
Rev. Dr. Brinsmade, in the sermon preached at his fu- 
neral, "was born in Western, [now Warren,] Massachu- 
setts, November 2Gth, 1759. He was the son of Jona- 
than Danforth, an officer in tlie Revolutionary War, who 
acted a conspicuous part as commander of a Battalion 
at the Battle of Bennington. It was the intention of his 
father, in early life, to give this son a liberal education, 
and he was qualifying himself to enter College when the 
Revolutionary struggle commenced. It was then, when 
the note of war was sounded and the veteran troops of 
England were pouring in upon our territories, that, at the 
age of fifteen years, he entered the army in the capacity of 
clerk in his father's company. After having served several 
months in this office, at the same time discharging the duties 
of Surgeon's mate, he received, at the age of sixteen, an En- 
sign's commission. From this post he was promoted, and in 
1778 raised to the rank of first Lieutenant, in which office 
he continued until 1781, when he was appointed Paymaster, 
with the rank of Captain. His first active services were 
performed at Roxbury, in June, 1775, at the time the British 
were throwing bombs into that place. When Gen. Wash- 
ington had ordered the army to remove from the place, and 
the last regiment had left the encampment, it was ascertain- 
ed that a part of the baggage had been left behind, and a 
detachment of men, under the command of Mr. Danforth, 
was ordered to go and secure it, which was done at great 
hazard. He remained in that vicinity until March 17, 1776, 
when, with the main body of the American army under 
Washington, he marched into Boston, as the rear of the 
British aimy left that town. He was in Boston until the 
following summer, and there in July heard for the first time 
the Declaration of Independence read to the army, which 
was called out for that purpose. Soon after this he went 
fo Ticonderoga, and was at the surrender of Burgoyne in 
1777. Immediately after this event, the Brigade to which 
he belonged was ordered to New-Jersey, and thence to 



64 

White Marsh ; and on tlie 19th of December the army took 
up their winter quarters at Valley Forge, about twenty 
miles from Philadelphia, which was then in possession of 
the British. It was on this march, the historian tells us 
that " through want of shoes and stockings, over the hard 
frozen ground, the army might be tracked from White Marsh 
to Valley Forge, by the blood from their feet." Col. Dan- 
forth has been heard to say that the sufferings of the army 
from want of food and shelter, that winter, were incredible. 
In 1778 he was in the Battle of Monmouth, and the Au- 
gust following he went to Rhode Island. He spent the 
principal part of the year 1780 at West point and its vicin- 
ity. In 1781 he had command, for some months, of a post 
a few miles from the Hudson, near Tappan's Bay, and was 
engaged in several skirmishes with the enemy. The army 
was disbanded in 1783, but Col. Danforth was continued in 
the service as Paymaster, to assist in the settlement of the 
accounts with the soldiers, and was not discharged until the 
year following. In May, 1784, after having visited the 
paternal home, he removed to Pittsfield, and engaged in 
mercantile business, in company with Col. Snnon Lamed. 
In 1786 he visited a number of the towns in this vicinity, 
in company with the late Judge Sedgwick, and united his 
efforts with that gentleman to allay the excitement existing 
in this County occasioned by Shay's rebellion. In 1787 he 
was appointed Aid-de-Camp to Major General Patterson ; 
the same year he received his first commission as a 
Justice of the Peace from John Hancock, and for a long 
time he was one of the acting magistrates of the town. In 
1794 the Post-Office was established in this town, and Col. 
Danforth was appointed Post-Master. He retained this ap- 
pointment until his death, Jan. 30, 1837, a period of 23 
years. From about 1794 to 1823 he held successively the 
offices of Town Clerk, Treasurer, Selectman, and Assessor. 
In 1801, '2 and '3 and in 1806 and '8, he was Representa- 
tive to the Legislature. In 1807, he was appointed Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Court of Sessions of this County, and 
in 1808 Chief Justice of the same Court. He received from 



65 

Mr. Madison the appointment of United States Marshal 
for this District, and also that of Principal Assessor, and 
Collector of the Revenue, for the iSth District in Massachu- 
setts. In 1827 and '8, he was elected a member of tlie 
Governor's Council. Besides these public offices, which 
show the estimate placed upon his talents and integrity by 
those who knew him best, he did, during his residence of 
more than half a century in this town, ever manifest a 
deep interest in the welfare of this people, and give his 
time and influence to promote their happiness. He was 
distinguished for acciu'acy in the discharge of the various 
services in which he was engaged ; w^as kind and faithful 
in all social and relative duties ; remarkably constant and 
attentive in the public worship of God. 

Maj. Henry Clinton Brown, already mentioned as the 
younger son of Col. John Brown, possessed, like his father 
a fine personal appearance. Bred a merchant, he entered 
into mercantile business in Williamstown. Being appointed 
Sheriff in 1812, he removed to Pittsfield, where he spent 
his subsequent days. He died in office, May 22, 1838, aged 
fifty-nine. He was distinguished for loveliness of temper 
and gentlemanly manners — was kind, generous, faithful as 
an officer, and exemplary as a Christian. 

The preceding sketches, among other things, show that 
the inhabitants of this town, considering their number, have 
had no inconsiderable share in the privations, hardships and 
achievements, arising out of the wars by which the country 
has been agitated. They were alive to their rights and 
wants, and to the rights and wants of others around them. 
As testimony to these facts, and some illustration of the 
spirit of the times, some additional statements and facts will 
be now given.* 

The settlement commenced a little before the second 
French war, during which, for the most part, the people 
were protected by four fortified houses. A garrison was 

*See Appendix, Note E. 

9 



66 

stationed here by order of the government of Massachusetts. 
In this war it is not likely many individuals were called 
abroad into the public service : they were too much exposed 
at home. Col. William Williams, however, as remarked 
on a previous page, in 1758 marched to the northward, at 
the head of a regiment. Ezekiel Root was with him, but 
in what capacity is not known to the writer ; perhaps some 
others were. Oliver Root was a soldier in the same war, 
but at the time belonged to Westfield. 

The scenes of this war were fresh in the remembrance of 
the people when the Revolulionary war drew on, and 'doubt- 
less served to prepare them for the part they took in the 
long-continued and arduous struggle for independence. In 
January, 1774, the town encouraged the enlistment of min- 
ute or piquet men into a company then forming under Capt. 
David Noble, by promising to them a certain portion of 
wages. This company was attached to a regiment made 
up of similar companies, and placed under the command of 
Colonel, afterwards Gen. John Patterson, of Lenox. This 
regiment was marched to Cambridge, immediately after the 
battle of Lexington, and was re -organized and enlarged. 
This was employed for a time in services about Boston, 
afterwards in services in Canada, and was engaged in the 
exploits at Princeton, Trenton and Saratoga. Very soon 
after the departure of Noble's company for Cambridge, Col. 
James Easton and John Brown, Esq. entered into the fa- 
mous enterprize which had been started at Hartford, against 
Ticonderoga. Easton, being Colonel of the northern regi- 
ment of militia in thisCounty, undertook to enlist volunteers 
for the expedition, and actually engaged from forty to fifty 
before his arrival at Bennington, of whom a considerable 
number were probably from this place. Others seem to 
have followed on afterwards, for there were seventy men 
from Massachasetts. Col. Easton was the second in com- 
mand. The conspicuous part which the Rev. Thomas Allen 
acted in the battle of Bennington, with a portion of his 
people and other reinforcements from Berkshire, has been 
stated. Some from this town are understood to have been 
engaged with Col. Brown in his exploits at the carrying- 



67 

place at Ticonderoga : more were with him probably when 
he fell at Stone Aral)ia. 

It would be interesting to give the number and names of 
those who actually enlisted into Capt. Noble's company ; 
of those also who were present at the taking of Ticonderoga, 
at the battle of Bennington, and with Col. Brown, at the 
carrying-place near Ticonderoga, and at Stone Arabia, were 
it practicable : also a statement of the number and names 
of those who served their country through the Revolution- 
ary War, and of any, who, while in that service, died of 
sickness or of wounds. Cannot their descendants furnish 
these facts, and cause them to be preserved, for the instruc- 
tion and benefit of posterity 1 

As early as June, 1774, a standing committee of safety 
and correspondence was appointed in this place, to corres- 
pond with similar committees in this and other provinces : 
at which time the people voted to enter into a covenant of 
mutual defence with other towns in Massachusetts, and to 
adopt literally a covenant which had been drafted at Wor- 
cester. This committee was succeeded by another, ap- 
pointed in Dec. 1775. The latter committee in March, 
1776, applied to the town for direction how to recover pay 
for handling persons suspected of being inimical to their 
country. The case demanded special directions. The ap- 
plication called forth speedily the following resolves, which 
merit insertion as evincive of the spirit prevalent at that 
time. 

" Voted, 1st. That this town determine -that said commit- 
tee, consisting or having consisted of who they may, are one 
and the same from their first appointment to this day, and 
that all their transactions and determinations ought to be 
considered as an adjourned court. Consequently, all mat- 
ters and things that have not been finally determined, shall 
have day with them ; and that if there be any matters and 
things before them that are not yet determined upon, they, 
the committee, as it now stands, have as full power and 
authority to act upon as ever they had ; and if any persons 
have upon trial appeared inimical to their country, or here- 



68 

after on trial shall appear so, they are herehy empowered, 
so far as our united influence can support them, to tax such 
persons for their time therein expended on trial, and for all 
other necessary charges ; and on refusal, to be committed 
to the common gaol, or be otherwise confined till paid, and 
in all other respects to deal with them as to punishment, 
according to the direction of the Continental Congress, Pro- 
vincial Congress, or General Assembly. 

" Voted, 2d. That if said committee shall apprehend any 
person or persons, and convene before them, whom they 
suspect to be inimical to their country, or to be guilty of 
any other misdemeanors, and upon trial arc found innocent, 
in that case the said committee have no pay for their time 
and cost. 

" Voted, 3d. That if any complaint shall be brought 
before the said committee by any person or persons, and if 
any complaint so brought be supported, then the offender 
be ordered by the said committee to pay said costs; and if 
the offender shall refuse to comply in paying costs, then the 
offender shall be ordered to confinement in the common 
gaol or elsewhere, until he comply and pay the cost, to- 
gether with the confinement, with the charges thereof; 
and in case any complainant shall not support his com- 
plaint, said complainant shall be holden to pay all costs* 
and on his refusal, shall be holden and committed as 
aforesaid." 

In Aug.of the firstyear just mentioned, (1774,) the people 
were alarmed by " two acts of the British Parliament, for 
superseding the charter of" Massachusetts, "and vacating 
some of the principal and invaluable privileges and franchises 
therein contained, which had passed the Royal assent, and 
been published in the Boston papers, that obedience might 
be yielded to them." It was deemed " of the greatest im- 
portance to the well-being 'of" Massachusetts, " that the 
people of it should utterly refuse the least submission to said 
acts," and that "the courts of justice should immediately 
cease." To secure their cessation, they addressed a peti- 
tion to the justices of his Majesty's inferior Court of Com- 



69 

mon Pleas for the county. The precise effect of the peti- 
tion is unknown ; but it is a matter of fact that judicial pro- 
ceedings were stayed in the county from 1774 till 1780. 

Durmg- the suspension of the courts it was necessary that 
special care should be taken to preserve order. The gen- 
eral principles regulating civil society, which had before 
been introduced by public law, were considered as virtually 
now in force. They furnished rules of procedure in most 
cases for committees, appointed from time to time to look 
to the public welfare. 

Besides the men in Noble's company, engaged in the 
services above specified, the people furnished quotas of 
men from time to time for the continental service. Their 
sympathy for their friends and neighbors in the army, and 
their zeal in enlisting men, appear strikingly in the follow- 
ing votes : 

March 30, 1778, it was voted by the town, ^^that money 
sufficient to purchase thirty-two shirts, thirty-two pair of 
stockings and thirty-two pair of shoesy for the use of the sol- 
diers now in the continental army, from this town, be made into 
a tax; said tnoney to be raised immediately, in the same method 
that the other town taxes have been laid this year^ 

In May following, it w^as voted, " that the commissioned 
officers be empower ed to promise ISOl. to six able bodied men, 
to serve in the continental army the term of nine months." 

On the 20th of December, 1780, the town accepted the 
following report of a committee appointed to devise meas- 
ures for raising sixteen continental soldiers: ^'- that the town 
choose two thorough men to act as a committee to hire sixteen 
men ; and to obligate themselves, on the credit of the town, to 
pay each man the sum of 30Z. in hard money, over and above 
State and Continental pay and rewards, within three weeks ; 
or otherwise to pay such persons to their acceptance and satis- 
faction.^' 

The precise course which the people took in the Shays' 
war, the writer is unable to state ; though it is understood 
they were very generally on the side ofgovernment. The ef- 
forts of Re v. Thomas Allen and Col. Danforth have been men- 



70 

tioned in the preceding sketches of their lives. In suppress- 
ing this rebellion, Gen. Lincoln had for a time his head quar- 
ters here. 

In the late war with Great Britain, Col. Simon Lamed 
commanded a regiment. For a notice of the services of 
some of the sons of Rev. Thomas Allen, in this war, the 
reader is referred to the account already given of him. 

Much was done by the first settlers of this town and their 
immediate descendants, to promote the cause of liberty, and 
to secure the best interests of man. Great were their sacrifi- 
ces ! But they are gone to the grave. The number of those 
who remember them is continually diminishing. Every 
man will draw after them, as there have been innumerable 
befoie them.* Happy are they who serve God and their 
generation faithfully by his will. 

• See Appendix, Note F. 



APPEIDIX. 



NOTE A. 

In May 1812, Maj. Gen. Dearborn purchased a lot of about 13 acres, (on 
which the buildings of the Young Ladies' Institute now stand, for the site of 
a cantonment ; and also another lot of one acre with a house thereon near 
by, as a residence for the person to be charged with the superintendence of 
the establishment. On the first mentioned lot, two buildings for barracks and 
one for officers' quarters, with piazzas in front, and another for an hospital, 
all two stories, were immediately erected by Maj. Thomas Melville, as Quar- 
ter-Master and Agent of Gen. Dearborn : two buildings were likewise erect- 
ed for stores and a guard-house. Towards the close of the year a further 
purchase was made of about seven acres of land immediately adjoining for 
the purpose of erecting suitable buildings for the accommodation of a regi- 
ment of cavalry. Most of the troops stationed here having been with- 
drawn to the lines it was deemed expedient the succeeding year to establish 
a depot of prisoners of war on the cantonment : in consequence of which 
two buildings which had been erected for stables, (each 200 feet long) and 
one of the infantry barracks, were arranged for the safe keeping of prisoners, 
and continued to be so used until peace took place. For a time there were 
5 or 600 prisoners here, requiring a strong guard. Among these were many 
officers, Gen. Rial and others. The prisoners were sent from this place to 
Montreal. 

The cantonment ground with the privileges and appurtenances thereof be- 
ing unnecessary for the purposes of the Government in a time of peace, were 
sold at auction in Dec. 1826. 

The town of Pittsfield, and indeed the county of Berkshire, is said to have 
derived great benefit, in a pecuniary point of view, from the location of this 
military establishment, not only by reason of the disbursement of large sums 
of money for the erection of buildings, the pay of the troops, transportation 
of military stores, and the supplies of the soldiers and prisoners ; but also 
from its having been made the means of affording encouragement to manu- 
factures, especially those of woollens for the use of the army. To this may 
be ascribed in a great measure the establishment of woollen manufactures in 
the County. 



72 



NOTE B. 

The death of Charles Baker, Esq., formerly a teacher in this school, is too 
affecting to pass unnoticed. This occurred at Conway, his native town, 
where he had been on a visit to his friends. May 29th, 1S29, in the 31st year 
of his age. He had taken a seat in the stage for Pittsfield. A violent thun- 
der shower coming up as the stage was stopping at tlie post-office, Mr. Baker 
got out and went in, and was struck down dead by lightning in an instant. 
Oliver Warner of Phelps, Y. Y., who was standing near, was killed also. A 
gentleman sitting between them, who adopted the precaution suggested by 
Dr. Franklin, of putting his feet upon the rounds of his chair, escaped un- 
hurt. Mr. Baker had practiced law in Williamstown some years before com- 
ing to this place. 



NOTE C. 

It has appeared in the foregoing history that many from other places who 
have settled in the town, were collegiately educated. The proportional num- 
ber of natives educated at Williams College, suggests the influence of that 
institution in advancing education in this section of the commonwealth. 



JVatives of Pittsfield who have received a Collegiate Education. 



Thomas Allen, Jr. 
William P. White. 
William Stoddard. 
Judah A. Lee, 
Thomas B. Strong, 
David W. Childs, 
Perry G. Childs, 
Charles Goodrich, Jr. 
Henry H. Childs, 
William Allen, 
Jashub B. Luce, 
Thomas A. Gold, 
Timothy Childs, 
Sylvester Larned, 
Solomon M. Allen, 
Charles Larned. 
Joshua N. Danforth, 
Charles Dillingham, 
George W. Campbell, 
Henry K. Strong, 
James D. Colt, 1st. 
Samuel A. Allen, 



H. 


17S9 


W. 


1799 


Y. 


1800 


W. 


ISOO 


W. 


1800 


Y. 


1797 


W 


1802 


H. 


1S02 


W. 


1804 


W. 


1806 


W. 


1811 


W. 


1813 


D. 


1813 


W. 


1818 


W. 


1819 


u. 


1820 


u. 


1831 


u. 




w. 


1S25 



Nathan Willis, 
James K. Kellogg, 
George W. Francis, 
Samuel D. Colt, 
Jesse W. Goodrich, 
Israel Dickinson, 
David White, 
Butler Goodrich, 
Charles E. AVest, 
Thomas Allen, 
William G. Weston, 
Hubbard Beebe, 
James D. Colt, 2d. 
William W. Edwards, 
Joseph M. Bush, 
Calvin G. Martin, 
James M. Burt, 
Timothy Childs, 
Thomas Colt, 
Lemuel B. Gay, 
William Allen, 
James C. Clapp, 



H. 

U. 

u. 

W. 1829 
U. 18Q9 



W. 
W. 



w. 
w. 



1830 
1831 



U. 1S32 

U. 1832 

U. 1832 

W. 1832 



1833 
1838 



W. 1838 

W. 1838 

W. 1839 

W. 1840 

W. 1841 

W. 1842 

W. 1843 

U. 1844 

W. 1844 



73 



Physicians in Pittsfield. 



Timothy Childs,* 
Jonathan Lee.* 
William Kittredge.* 
Gilbert Jennie, t 
Daniel James. f 
Sturtevant.f 



Birth Place. 
Deerfield. 



Orrin Wright. 

Bennet.f 

Gunn.f 

John P. Bachelder, M. D.f 
John De Lamatter, M. D.f 



Horatio Jones. f Stockbridge, 

H. H. Childs, M. D. Pittsfield. 

Enoch Pierce, Peru. 

John James, M. D.f 
Ira Wright, t 

As for the Colleges where any of these physicians have been classically 
educated, see preceding catalogue and the preceding history. 
* Deceased. t Removed. 



William Coleman, 
Oliver S. Root, M. D. 
Robert Campbell, M. D. 
John M. Brewster, 
Willard Clough. 
Oliver E. Brewster, 



Amherst. 

Pittsfield. 

do. 

Becket. 
Vt. 
Becket. 





Lawyers. 












Birth Place. 


Educated. 


Ad. to the Bar. 


Woodbridge Little,* 


Lebanon, 


Y. 


1760 


about 


1770 


John Brown,* 


Sandisfield, 


Y. 


1771 


do 


1773 


Ashbel Strong,* 


N. Marlborough, 


Y. 


1776 


do 


1774 


John C. Williams, 


Roxbury, 


H. 


1777 


do 


1773-4 


Thomas Gold,* 


Cornwall, Ct. 


Y. 


177S 


do 


do 


Thomas Allen,* 


Pittsfield, 


H. 


1789 


do 


1792 


John W. Hurlbut,t 


Alford, 






do 


1794 


Ezekiel Bacon,t 


Stockbridge, 


Y. 


1794 




1798 


Thomas B. Strong, 


N. Marlboro', 


Y. 


1797 




1800 


Henry Hubbard, 


Sheffield, 


W. 






1806 


Luther Washburn,* 


Hardwick, 








1807 


Moses Heyden,t 


Conway, 


W. 


1S04 




1808 


Thomas A. Gold, 


Pittsfield, 


W. 


1806 




1809 


Jashub B. Luce,* 


do 


W. 






do 


Chauncey Hurlbut,t 


Alford, 








do 


David Perry, Jun.f 


Rehoboth, 








do 


John Hooker,t 


Springfield, 








do 


Fordyce Merrick, 


Pittsfield, 








1811 


William C. Jarvis,t 


Boston, 








do 


Reynold M. Kirby,t 


Litchfield, Conn. 








do 


Henry W. Taylor, 


Pittsfield, 








1812 


Wolcott Lawrence, 


Washington, 








do 


Daniel B. Bush, 


Pittsfield, 








1814 


Calvin Martin, 


Hancock, 








do 


George N. Briggs,|: 


Adams, 










* Died in t 


own. 

place from Lauesborough 

10 


t Removed. 


ice. 




X Gov. Briggs moved to this 


a few 


years sir 





Educated. 


Ad. 


to the B 


W. ISIO 




1817 
do 


Y. 1815 




1820 


W. 1818 




1822 


Y. 1826 







74 



Birth place. 
John Porter.t Dalton, 

Matthias R. Lanckton,PittsfieId, 
Josiah Hooker, t Springfield, 

Parker L, Hall, Pownal, Vt. 

Hon. Julius Rockwell, Colebrook, Ct. 
Ensign H. Kellogg, Sheffield. 

James D. Colt, Pittsfield, W. 1838 

Thomas C. Rodgers, New Orleans, Lou. 
Elias D. Merwin, Troy, N. Y. 



NOTE D. 

Tivo Letters of Rev. Tliomas Allen to Gen. Seth Pomeroy. 

Pittsfield, May 4th, 177-5. 
Gen. Pomeroy : — Sir : 

I have the pleasure to acquaint you that a number of gentlemen from 
Connecticut, went from this place last Tuesday morning having been joined 
by Col. Easton, Capt. Dickinson and Mr. Brown, with 40 soldiers, on an ex- 
pedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point ; expecting to be reinforced 
by a thousand men from the Grants above here ; a post having previously ta- 
ken his departure to inform Col. Ethan Allen of the design and desiring him 
to hold his Green Mountain Boys in actual readiness. The expedition has 
been carried on with the utmost secrecy, as they are in hopes of taking those 
forts by surprise. We expect they will reach those forts by Saturday next, 
or Lord's day at farthest. The plan was concerted at Hartford last Saturday, 
by the Governor and Council, Col. Hancock, Mr. Adams and others from our 
Province being present. j£300 was drawn immediately out of the Treasury 
for the aforesaid purpose, and committed to those gentlemen who were here. 
We earnestly pray for success in this important expedition as the taking 
those places would afford us a key to all Canada. There is, if the accounts 
are to be depended on, not more than 20 soldiers at each fort, and there is a 
large number of cannon, and I hear four as excellent brass cannon as we could 
wish. Should success attend this expedition we expect a strong reinforce- 
ment will be sent from the western part of Connecticut to keep those forts and 
to repair and fortify them well. We have had much work here of late with 
the Tories. A dark plot has been discovered of sending names down to 
Gen. Gage, in consequence of which, and the critical situation of this town, 
we have been obliged to act with vigor, and have sent Mr. Jones and Graves 
to Northampton Gaol, where they now lie in close confinement ; and have 
sent a hue and cry after Major S. and Mr. L., who have fled to New York for 
shelter. We hope it will not be long before they are taken into custody and 
committed to close confinement. Our Tories are the worst in the Province : 
all the effect the late and present operations have had upon them is, they are 
mute and pensive, and secretly wish for more prosperous days to Toryism. 



75 

As to your important operations, Sir, you have the fervent prayers of all 
good men that success may attend them. I hope God will inspire you with 
wisdom from above in all your deliberations, and your soldiers with courage 
and fortitude, and that Boston will be speedily delivered into your hands, 
the General thereof, and all the King's troops, that den of thieves, that nest 
of robbers, thai asylum for traitors and murderers may be broken up, and 
never another red coat from England set foot on these shores. I have been 
concerned lest General Gage should spread the small pox in your army. 
May Heaven protect your army from his wicked wiles. May you be shield- 
ed, Sir, in the day of battle, and obtain a complete victory over these enemies 
of God and mankind. I have but one observation to make which I have of- 
ten made upon the histories I have read, and then I must put an end to this 
tedious epistle : it is this — Seldom or never do the greatest Generals duly 
improve a victory when it is obtained. 

I am, Sir, with great respect, Your obedient, humble Servant, 

THOMAS ALLEN. 

PiTTSFiELD, May 9th, 1773. 
Gen. Pomeroy : — Sir : 

I shall esteem it a great happiness if I can communicate any intelligence 
to you. Sir, that shall be of any service to my country. In my last I wrote 
to you of the northern expedition. Before the week ends, we are in raised 
hopes, here, of hearing that Ticonderoga and Crown Point are in other hands. 
Whether the expedition fails or succeeds I will send you the most early in- 
telligence, as I look on it as an affair of great importance. Solomon, the 
Indian King, at Stockbridge, was lately at Col. Eastons, of this town, and 
said there that the Mohawks had not only gave liberty to the Stockbridge In- 
dians to join us, but had sent them a belt denoting that they would hold in 
readiness 500 men, to join us immediately on'the first notice, and that the 
said Solomon holds an Indian post in actual readiness to run with the news 
as soon as they shall be wanted. Should the Council of War judge it neces- 
sary to send to them after being better informed of the matter by Capt. Good- 
rich now in the service ; if you should issue out your orders to Col. Easton, 
I make no doubt that he would bring them down soon. Those Indians might 
be of great service, should the King's troops march out of Boston, as some 
think they undoubtedly will upon the arrival of their recruits, and give no 
battle. 

Our Militia, this way. Sir, are vigourously preparing for actual readiness ; 
adjacent towns and this town are buying arms and ammunition : there is a 
plenty of arms to be sold at Albany, as yet, but we hear by order of the Major, 
&c., no powder is to be sold for the present there. The spirit of liberty runs 
high there, as you have doubtless heard by their post to our head quarters. 
I have exerted myself to disseminate the same spirit in King's District, which 
has of late taken a surprising effect. The poor Tories at Kinderhook are 
mortified and grieved, and are wheeling about, and begin to take the quick 
step. New York government begins to be alive in the glorious cause, and to 
act with great vigor. Some this way say that the King's troops will carry off 



76 

all the plate, merchandise and plunder of the town of Boston, to pay them 
for their ignominious expedition which, in my opinion would not be at all 
inconsistent with the shameful principles of those who have sent them on so 
inglorious an expedition. 

I fervently pray, Sir, that our Council of War maybe inspired with wis- 
dom from above, to direct the warlike enterprise with prudence, discretion 
and vigor. may your councils and deliberations be under the guidance 
and blessing of Heaven. Since I began, an intelligible person, who left Ti- 
conderoga Saturday before last, informs me, that having went through there 
and Crown Point about three weeks ago, all were secure; but on his return, 
he found they were alarmed with our expedition, and would not admit him 
into the fort : that there were twelve soldiers at Crown Point, and he judged 
near two hundred at Ticonderoga : that these forts are out of repair and much 
in ruins : that it was his own opinion our men would undoubtedly be able to 
take them ; and that he met our men last Thursday, who were well furnish- 
ed with cattle and wagons laden with provisions, and in good spirits, who he 
supposed would arrive there last Sabbath day, and he doubted not but this 
week they would be in possession of those forts. He informed them where 
they might obtain a plenty of ball, and there are cannon enough at Crown 
Point, which they cannot secure from us ; that he saw the old Sow from 
Cape Breton, and a number of good brass cannon at Ticonderoga. Should 
this expedition succeed, and should the Council of War send up their orders 
for the people this way to transport by land twenty or thirty of the best can- 
non to head quarters, I doubt not but the people in this country would do it 
with all expedition. We could easily collect a thousand yoke of cattle for 
the business. 

Since I wrote the last paragraph, an express has arrived from Benedict 
Arnold, commander of the forces against Ticonderoga, for recruits : in con- 
sequence of which, orders are issued out for a detachment of eighteen men 
of each company in this regiment to march immediately, who will be on their 
way this day. I am. Sir, with great respect, your humble servant, 

THOMAS ALLEN. 

[General Pomeroy, to whom the above letters were addressed, appears to 
have been at Cambridge at their respective dates.] 



NOTE E. 

Members of the Congress of the United States from Pittsfield. 

Simon Lamed, from 1806 to 1807. George N. Briggs, from 1831 to 1843. 
Ezekiel Bacon, " 1807 to 1813. Julius Rockwell, 1844. 
John W. Hurlbut, " 1815 to 1817. 



77 



Members of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, from Piti.sfield. 
John Brown, Feb. 15, 1775. Charles Goodrich, March 22, 1775. 

Members of the Senate of the State. 



Timothy Childs, 1S05 to 1S09. 
Phinehas Allen, ISIO to 1S21. 
Jonathan Allen, 1S22 and 23. 



Samuel M. McKay, 1829. 
Thomas F. Plunkett, 1S41 and 42. 



Members of the Governor's Council. 



John C. Williams, 1817-18. 
Nathan Willis, 1824-5, 6. 



Joshua Danforth, 1827-8. 



Representatives to the State Legislature. 



Pittsfield first represented May 31, 1769, by 



Capt Charles Goodrich. 

1770, 
Capt. Charles Goodrich 

1771, 
William Williams, 

1772, 
William Williams. 

1773, 
Capt. Charles Goodrich. 

1774, 
James Easton. 

1775, 
Capt. Charles Goodrich, 
Israel Dickinson. 
1776, 
Valentine Rathbun, 
Israel Dickinson. 
1777, 
Valentine Rathbun, 
Josiah Wright, 
Eli Root. 

1778, 
Col. John Brown. 

1779, 
Col. William Williams, 
James Noble. 

1780, 
Capt. Charles Goodrich. 

1781, 
Col. William Williams. 

1782, 
No one. 

1783, 
No one. 

1784, 
Dr. Timothy Chflds. 



1785, 
Capt Charles Goodrich. 

1786, 
Dr. Timothy Childs. 

1787, 
Henry Van Skaack, 
Capt. David Bush. 

1788, 
Capt. David Bush, 
Woodbridsje Little. 

1789, 
Woodbridge Little. 

1790, 
Woodbridge Little. 

1791, 
Simon Larned. 

1792, 
Capt. Daniel Hubbard, 
Dr. Timothy Childs. 

1793, 
Capt. Daniel Hubbard, 
Dr. Timothv Childs. 

1794, 
John C. Williams. 

1795, 
John C. Williams. 

1796, 
John C. Williams. 

1797, 
John C. Williams. 

1798, 
John C. Williams. 

1799, 
Ashbel Strong. 

1800, 
John C. Williams. 



1801, 

Joshua Danforth. 

1802, 
Joshua Danforth. 

1803, 
Joshua Danforth. 

1804, 
Dr. Timothy Childs, 
Thomas Allen, Jun. 

1805, 
Thomas Allen, Jun., 
Simeon Griswold. 

1806, 
Joshua Danforth, 
Simeon Griswold. 

1807, 
Simeon Griswold, 
John Churchill. 

1808, 
Joshua Danforth, 
John Churchill, 
Joseph Shearer. 

1809, 
Simeon Griswold, 
John Churchill, 
Joseph Shearer. 

1810, 
John Churchill, 
Joseph Shearer, 
James Brown, 
Oren Goodrich. 

1811, 
Timothy Childs, 
James Brown, 
Oren Goodrich, 
Horace Allen. 



78 



1812, 

Timothy Childs, 
Oren Goodrich, 
Jonathan Allen, 
John B. Root. 

1813, 
John B. Root, 
Caleb Wadhams, 
John Dickinson, 
Simeon Bromn. 

1814, 
Timothy Childs, 
Simeon Griswold, 
John Churchill, 
Phinehas Allen. 

1815, 
Oren Goodrich, 
John Dickinson, 
Phinehas Allen, 
Oliver Robbins. 

1816, 
Jonathan Allen, 
Oliver Robbins, i 
Joel Stevens, 
Henry H. Childs. 

1817, 
Jonathan Allen. 

1818, 
Phinehas Allen. 

1819, 
Oren Goodrich. 

1820, 
Jonathan Allen. 

1821, 
Jonathan Allen, 
William C. Jarvis. 

1822, 
William C. Jarvis. 

1823, 
William C. Jarvis, 
Daniel B. Bush, 
Samuel M. McKay, 
Oren Goodrich. 



1824, 
William C. Jarvis, 
Samuel M. McKay. 

1825, 
Samuel M. McKay. 

1826, 
Samuel M. McKay, 
Matthias R. Lanckton. 

1827, 
Matthias R. Lanckton, 
Thomas B. Strong, 
Daniel B. Bush, 
Henry H. Childs. 

1828, 
Thomas B. Strong, 
Daniel B. Bush, 
Samuel M. McKay, 
Daniel H. Francis. 

1829, 
Thomas B. Strong. 

1830, 
Daniel H. Francis, 
Jonathan Allen, 
Joseph Merrick, 
Hosea Merrill, Jun. 

1831, 
Nathan Willis, 
Hosea Merrill, Jun., 
Jonathan Allen,2d, 
Josiah Stearns. 

1832, 
Nathan Willis, 
Thomas B. Strong, 
Jonathan Allen, 2d., 
Josiah Stearns. 

1833, 
Samuel M. McKay, 
Thomas Melville, 
John Churchill, 
Charles B. Francis. 

1834, 
Samuel M. McKay, 
Julius Rockwell, 



Robert Campbell, 
Charles B. Francis. 

1835, 
Julius Rockwell, 
Robert Campbell, 
Matthias R. Lanckton, 
Jabcz Peck, 
Daniel Stearns, Jun., 

1836, 
Julius Rockwell, 
Jabez Peck, 
Matthias R. Lanckton, 
Butler Goodrich, 
Jason Clapp. 

1837, 
Julius Rockwell, 
Butler Goodrich, 
Jason Clapp, 
Henry Daniels, 
Amos Barnes. 

1838, 
Amos Barnes, 
Henry Hubbard. 

1839, 
George W. Campbell, 
Solomon L. Russell. 

1840, 
Jabez Peck, 
James Francis, 
Comfort B. Piatt. 

1841, 
James Francis, 
Comfort B. Piatt. 

1842, 
Abel West. 

1843, 
Ensign H. Kellogg, 
Griffin Chamberlain. 

1844, 
Ensign H. Kellogg, 
Titus Goodman. 



NOTE F. 



Cemeteries — Mortality — Reinarks on the general healfhfulness of the 
place. 

"In the midst of life we are in death," and though our great concern 
should be to have our souls prepared to go and dwell with God, yet provision 
should be made for the decent interment of the body, destined to lie in the 
dust until the resurrection. In the first warrant for calling a meeting of the 
proprietors of this township, after their incorporation in 1753, one article 



79 

was, " to see if they could agree upon some suitable place or places for the 
burying of the dead." The ground first contemplated for this purpose, was 
probably that in the centre, back of the Congregational Church, which has 
been used by the English inhabitants as their principal cemetery, until 
recently. The first burial in town took place, and it is supposed here, in 
1757 ; though the yard does not appear to have been cleared then, nor for 
many years afterwards ; for in Nov. 1769, the people voted " to clear ground 
for a burying place." Some forty or fifty years since, a^small grave yard was 
laid out in the west part of the town, and another in the extreme east. In 
1834, a large lot of eight or ten acres, a little northeast of the central yard, 
was appropriated as a cemetery, and much of it has been sold in lots for the 
accommodation of families. Many recently dead have been buried in it, and 
many bodies have been removed to it from the old yard, (now forbidden to 
be used any more for the purposes of interment.) Numerous monuments 
already appear in it. 

From 1757 to May, 1808, a period of fifty-one years, the Rev. Mr. Allen, 
the first minister of the town, states in round numbers, that the burials in 
town were 1000, making nearly twenty a year on an average. The popula- 
tion of the town for a large portion of this period, is too imperfectly known 
to authorize from this statement any very definite calculations respecting the 
general healthfulness of the place. It is apparent, however, from this, that 
the town could not have been considered on the whole as sickly. On the 
other hand there are facts in abundance to show that the place is favorable 
to health and longevity, in common with the towns in the vicinity. Owing 
to the greater breadth of the Housatonic valley, and to the number of streams 
and ponds, it is true " the air is more humid than in some parts of Berkshire, 
and the quantity of dew is considerably greater." The humidity does not 
appear to affect essentially the health of residents. There are here no pecul- 
iar local causes of disease, and endemics have been less frequent than in some 
towns in the County. 

Among the evidences that the town is healthy, one is the longevity to 
which a considerable number have attained. The Rev. Mr. Allen, before 
referred to, affirms that in 180S, there were twenty-two men then living, over 
72 years of age. Before and since that time we find the following persons, 
among others, dying very aged : — David Bush, Aaron Baker, Simeon Crofoot 
and Timothy Cadwell, died aged fourscore ; John Baker and Oliver Root, 
aged 85 ; Nathaniel Fairfield aged 87 ; William Francis aged 88 ; Jacob 
Ensign, Daniel Sacket and Benj. Keeler, aged 89 ; Zebadiah Stiles^died at 90; 
Mrs. Deming, wife of Solomon, at 92 ; and Charles Goodrich, Esq. at 9C. 

There have been_years of unusual sickness and mortality here as in other 
places ; but they have not been very frequent. In June, 1775, it is mentioned 
in a vote of the town, as a reason for requesting Dr. Timothy Childs to return 
home from the army, that it was very sickly : what the sickness was is not 
stated. That year, however, the deaths were only twenty-one. The only 
endemic here of importance, originating from a iinown cause, was a fever of 
the intermittent type, occasioned by a dam over the west branch of the Hou- 
satonic, causing the overflow of an extensive marsh back, beginning about 



80 

1783, and continuing several years. By this, sickness was spread extensively 
in the town, and the mortality somewhat increased. In other years, when 
there has been the greatest mortality, some epidemic has prevailed more or 
less over this region of country. In 1808 and '9, the scarlet fever prevailed' 
and in the latter year there were forty-nine deaths, though in the former there 
were but twenty-four. In 1810, in the rage of the spotted fever, there were 
forty deaths, and in 1811, forty-one. In 1812 and 13, a disease prevailed, 
sometimes styled the" " old epidemic," (pneumonia typhoides.) In the first 
year, however, there were only twenty-four deaths ; in the second, there 
were sixty-eight, (a very great mortality ; ) and the year following there were 
forty. 

With the exception of these years, and some few ethers, the people have 
been blessed with general health. Most who have gone to the great congre- 
gation of the dead have gone in the ordinary course of Divine Providence. 



[The subjoined statement is given, though not referred to in the text.] 

Support of the Poor. 
The inhabitants of this place many years since were in the habit of sup- 
porting their paupers by employing persons to keep them, who were willing 
to keep them on the lowest terms, one, two, three or more in a family, as cir- 
cumstances rendered most convenient. Thus they were scattered in differ- 
ent parts of the town. From 1812 to 1832, they were kept together by the 
lowest bidder; for the first ten or twelve years, for $1100, and for the remain- 
der of the period, for about f 1 350 a year. In 1831, a farm was purchased in 
the west part of the town, and every necessary was procured for the recep- 
tion of the poor by the 1st of May, 1832. 

The farm (containing ninety acres,) cost 3^2323 50 
" Stock, 315 52 

" Farming utensils, 5182 

" Buildings and repairs, 592 26 

« Furniture, 423 94 



Total, #3707 04 

The people were fortunate in the purchase of the farm, and in the selec- 
tion of an overseer, and the result is a great saving of expense to the town, 
while the poor are placed in circumstances of greater comfort, and are more 
contented and happy. The pastors of the churches visit and instruct them_ 
Should the temperance reformation go on to its desired consummation, the 
number of paupers here as well as elsewhere, will be greatly diminished ; 
and as for those who are poor through Providence of God, nothing can be 
more reasonable, than that their more favored brethren should provide for 
their support. They ought to be furnished not only with subsistence, but 
with the means of grace, that through the blessing of God they may be rich 
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God has provided for them that 
love him. 

Error.— On p. 19, 18lh line from top, for seventy ■, read, about 75 or 80. 



